Episode 204: Jason Koger

Tell Us A Good Story

In March 2008, Jason Koger lost both his hands after he ran into a downed power line while driving a four-wheeler. He is now the first bilateral upper arm amputee to be fitted with TWO bionic arms. Jason is also a record-setting hunter, a highly sought-after speaker, and the most proficient bionic hand-user in the world.

In this conversation with Kevin + Steph, he shares the story of how his life changed on March 1, 2008. Thankfully, the accident did not take away Jason’s sense of humor. From what kids say to him in public when they see his robotic arms to the looks he got when he was buying hand sanitizer at the store for his wife, Jason has some great stories to share. PLUS, he shares the hilarious story of being cast in the TV show, Hawaii Five-O on CBS as the “hookman”.

Hope you enjoy this great conversation with our new friend, Jason Koger.

Guest Details
Facebook: @JasonKogerOfficial
Instagram: @jkoger84

To connect with Kevin + Steph:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Their book titled ‘You Met Her WHERE?!’ can be ordered here: kevinandsteph.com/book

Access the Show Transcript Here

Tell Us A Good Story EP204

Jason Koger shares his inspiring journey as the leading bionic hand user post-amputation, highlighting his resilience and determination. From favorite books to adventures on “Hawaii Five-0,” his story is truly uplifting.

2024, Team Mason
Tell Us A Good Story

Produced by Clawson Solutions Group, LLC https://csolgroup.com

Generated Shownotes

Chapters

0:00:00 Welcome to Tell Us A Good Story
0:01:25 Friendly reminders and engagement
0:01:58 Excitement for a new guest
0:02:12 Introducing the record-setting hunter
0:08:48 Light-hearted book banter
0:09:07 Book promotion and autographs
0:09:47 Detailed account of the accident
0:16:01 Reflecting on the accident aftermath
0:19:38 Awakening to a new reality
0:22:35 Phantom Pain and Weather Sensitivity
0:23:22 Hospital Stay and Determination
0:28:13 Life After the Accident and Support System
0:30:27 Bionic Arms and Functionalities
0:33:00 Guest Appearance on Hawaii Five-0
0:38:49 Audience Engagement and Conclusion of Episode
0:39:19 Unexpected Visit and Impact on Others

Long Summary

In this episode of Tell Us A Good Story, we delve into the awe-inspiring journey of Jason Koger, the world’s most proficient bionic hand user. Following a tragic accident in 2008 that led to the loss of both his arms, Jason’s resilience and humor shine through as he navigates life with his robotic arms, sharing endearing anecdotes of interactions with children and the public. The hosts, Kevin and Stephanie, open up about their own struggles, setting the stage for a heartfelt conversation with Jason. Jason recounts the life-altering moment of the accident, where a fateful encounter with a downed power line while on a four-wheeler resulted in severe burns and the amputation of both arms to save his life. Despite the challenges, Jason finds solace in holding his children post-surgery, exuding a sense of tranquility amidst the turmoil.

As the conversation unfolds, the focus shifts to a light-hearted moment as the main speaker quizzes Steph on her favorite book, unveiling the Bible as her choice. The speaker and Steph discuss their book, “You Met Her Where,” highlighting its appeal as a thoughtful gift for loved ones. Delving into a personal narrative on phantom pain and the speaker’s own experiences post-amputation, he shares the unwavering determination that drove him to resume hunting, recounting the poignant moment of shooting his first turkey merely a month after the accident. Reflecting on his journey with bionic hands and his stint as a hand double for actor Peter Weller on “Hawaii Five-0,” the speaker narrates heartwarming tales of camaraderie and philanthropic endeavors. Providing insights into his book, “Handed: A Greater Purpose,” and where to acquire it, the speaker extends an invitation to connect in person while encouraging listeners to engage with their podcast, “Tell Us a Good Story.”

Brief Summary

In this episode of Tell Us A Good Story, we follow the remarkable journey of Jason Koger, the world’s leading bionic hand user, as he shares poignant experiences post-amputation, including heartwarming moments with his children and the public. Jason’s resilience shines through as he recounts the life-altering accident in 2008 that led to the loss of both his arms, showcasing his unwavering spirit and determination. The conversation takes a lighter turn as the main speaker discusses Steph’s favorite book, “You Met Her Where,” emphasizing its value as a thoughtful gift. From overcoming phantom pain to resuming hunting shortly after the accident, Jason’s story is both inspiring and uplifting. As he delves into his adventures with bionic hands and his role on “Hawaii Five-0,” listeners are invited to explore his book, “Handed: A Greater Purpose,” and connect on a personal level.

Tags

Jason Koger, bionic hand, amputation, resilience, accident, children, determination, phantom pain, hunting, Hawaii Five-0

Transcript

Welcome to Tell Us A Good Story

[0:00] Hello friends, welcome to another episode of Tell Us A Good Story.
Today we get to talk to the most proficient bionic hand user in the world.
This man is the first bilateral upper arm amputee to be fitted with not one, but two bionic arms. Mr.
Jason Koger. You guys, this man’s story is so inspirational.
As you will hear, Jason had a horrific accident back in March 2008 that resulted in both of his arms being amputated.
You have to hear the story and how he turned a terrible, terrible accident into doing something to help and inspire others.
His accident certainly didn’t take away from his sense of humor, from what kids say to him in public when they see his robotic arms, to the looks he got when he was buying hand sanitizer for his wife at the store.
And I love the story he shared about appearing on the TV show Hawaii Five-O.
You guys, we can’t wait for you to hear this episode with our new friend, Jason Coker.
I’m Kevin. And I’m Stephanie. And during our marriage, we have dealt with an electrocution, a brain tumor, brain surgery.
Then doctors telling us that children were not in our future, followed by miscarriage, and then Kevin’s cancer diagnosis.
However, today, we live a life completely healed and restored with three healthy children who doctors said were not possible.
And we’re here to tell stories that inspire, give hope, and brighten your day.
Welcome to… Tell Us a Good Story.

Friendly reminders and engagement

[1:26] Okay, friends, before we get to this episode, just a friendly reminder to please hit the subscribe button on YouTube and Apple podcast or give us a review five stars, please.
In our world, this is super, super important, because it will help with the algorithm to make it easier for people to find us.
And thank you for sharing our posts across your social media that really helps with engagement and with us getting guests.
Yes. So hey, if you want us to keep working our way up to talking to Chip and Joanna, please share us with your friends.
But regardless, thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.

Excitement for a new guest

[1:59] Steph. It’s going to be great. This next guest is going to be amazing.
Like, I am so excited to talk to this man. He is so original.
Like, we’ve never had a guest like this and I’m super excited to talk to him.

Introducing the record-setting hunter

[2:12] Well, friends, our next guest is a record-setting hunter, a highly sought-after speaker speaker and the most proficient bionic hand user in the world.
He’s the first bilateral upper arm amputee to be fitted with two bionic arms.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to tell us a good story.
Mr. Jason Cogar, Jason Cogar.
Thank you. Thank you here, Jason. Oh, my gosh.

[2:35] Thank you so much for saying yes to us, sir. Thank you for asking.
I am so excited to talk to you and actually get to see you now via Zoom.
We’ve talked a couple times, right, over the phone.
And you sent us your book, which is fantastic, by the way. It is so well put together. I’m so impressed with it.
But first off, let me share how we actually connected with you.
So, listeners, we have been very blessed to interview a handful of the Ramsey Solutions, Ramsey personalities.
Personalities okay and so at the end of one of our conversations i had asked like hey who do you know who might be a good fit for tell us a good story and so the pr person for ramsey solutions reached out to me afterwards and said hey we just had an individual here speak at our chapel maybe two three weeks ago his name is jason koger you need to talk to him and that’s all he said basically and so he sent me a link to your website i clicked on it looked you up and immediately jason i’m like Like, yes, we want to talk to that guy.

[3:36] Absolutely. And then he connected us. I gave you a phone call.
And just immediately, like Jason, I was just blown away, brother.
And very honored that Dave Ramsey’s organization connected us because they were highly, highly complimentary of you. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Hey, okay, I’ve got a question. Okay. Whenever I see an amputee, I always want to say, oh, my gosh, what happened? Because obviously he and Kevin and I love hearing people’s stories.
But I want to ask you, is that insensitive of me to ask you that question? Or just be staring.

[4:12] So I’m going to give you my opinion.
I feel like I love people to ask me questions because I know I’m different.
And I think all amputees know that they’re different.
I think that there are amputees out there that really are angry, whether they’re angry at God or angry at the situation that might get offended.
But I would rather somebody talk to me than just look at me. Right.
You know, I mean, I wear shirts all the time. that says i got one shirt that says look ma no hands i got one that says don’t shoot i’m unarmed so like i think people see it and they’re like oh i’m gonna talk to that dude so i would much rather talk to people for sure how are kids just ask you random things or they just stare the whole time no kids usually talk but their parents grab them like no no no no yes i could see that yeah Yeah, I could see that.
Some kids aren’t scared.
Some are. So yeah, you have two bionic arms here.
And we’re going to have so many questions, Jason. So if you don’t mind, can you share the story of what happened in the moment that changed your life back in 2008, I believe?
So we’re talking almost 16 years ago. Yeah, March 1st, 2016.
I mean, 2008 is whenever I was hurt.
And I try to go back to my growing up, you know, the way I was raised.
My dad was a drill sergeant in the Army. me. So we never had that.
You cannot do something. My dad was raised up pretty poor.

[5:37] He was raised up with his dad drinking a lot, him being a self-provider at the age of 14.

[5:44] So in 1984 is when my dad started his company.
And all he had was $1,500 to his name. So I watched my dad start a company.
And granted, I was born in 79. So I was five, six years old when he started it.

[5:58] And I watched my dad grow this company from $1,500, which I didn’t know what $1,500 was then, to a really big construction company.
We were doing $20, $30 million worth of work.
Wow. Holy Hannah. Closer to my accident.
So I didn’t have a rough life at all. My dad always provided for us.
And I think that’s why I am who I am today is because of him.
You’re never going to give up. We were raised up in church.
I’ve always gone to church. And that’s the next part. I’m sure we’ll get in all this kind of stuff. But when you’re raised in church, you know, God’s real.
A lot of people go through an accident like I do. And that’s when they figure out, hey, there is a God.

[6:39] I always knew there was a God. Right. So I didn’t have that worry.
I didn’t have that. Is he real? Is he going to help me?
What’s my life going to be like? but that whole year before i probably was working six seven days a week 12 hour days and march 1st was one of the first days i was off work uh me and my wife jenny we had two daughters at the time billy grace was 21 months old campbell was three months old uh right before campbell was born we lived in owensboro kentucky’s where i live and i always wanted to raise my family where my my mom mom, dad raised me.
So I basically kicked my mom and dad out of their house. When they had to leave, I bought the house that I was raised up in and we brought our kids out here and that’s what we wanted.
So on March 1st was the first day that I was off work and we had took the girls to Owensboro to the mall and they had this little train set inside the mall and took them on a little ride and came home.
I was just trying to do stuff with them, you know, because I’d been working a bunch.
I told my wife, I said, hey, I’m going to put the girls down for a nap. I put them down for a nap.
I was doing a lot of honeydew chores around the house. My wife, her brother was about to get married.

[7:50] So our sister-in-law now had came over to do wedding invitations because my wife was a graphic design major.
So when she walked in, she walked in, she had her brother and a couple of friends.
She was like, hey, can you do something with the boys? And I love kids.
And at the time they were probably, you know, 11, 12 years old. I don’t know.
And so I said, yeah, we’ll go outside and play some basketball.
So I put my kids down for a nap, went outside playing basketball.
And then one of them said, let’s ride around around your grandfather’s farm.
I said, okay, let’s do it.
So where my house is, right next door is my uncle.
Right next door to my uncle was my grandfather’s house. Right next to my grandfather is my other uncle, and there’s 2,300 acres of corn and soybeans at my family farm.
So I was like, well, we’ll be gone for five, ten minutes, and that’s it.
Went on this quick four-wheeled ride. The second turn, there was a downed power line, and I ran into it. Took 7,200 volts of electricity.
Basically what happened to me.

Light-hearted book banter

[8:49] All right, Steph, I’ve got a question for you. What’s your favorite book of all time? Obviously, You Met Her Where?
Oh, I thought you were going to say the Bible. Oh, oops.
What’s your second favorite book of all time? You Met Her Where?

Book promotion and autographs

[9:08] It’s just the second. Totally distant. It’s a pretty good book.
Sorry, God. It’s still a pretty good book.
But we’re so excited. Where can people get our book? Okay, I know this.
Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and our website, KevinandSteph.com.
And what happens if they buy it off our website? What do they get?
An autograph from us. Yes. Who wouldn’t want that?
So listeners, if you’ve already read the book, thank you so much.
We’ve had such good feedback.
One thing that helps us, if you can give us a review on Amazon.com, we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much. And thank you for listening.

Detailed account of the accident

[9:47] So the the power line’s down are you running over it or you run right into it and it’s like on your arms yeah so it was about 30 inches off the ground okay so whenever i hit it it hit the front rack of my four-wheeler and it bounced up and hit me in the chest and landed on my gas tank and it didn’t do anything no it didn’t do anything at that time and uh this all seems so fast when i I tell my story seems so slow, you know, but when I hit, whenever I hit the line and it landed in between my gas tank, I sat there for a minute and I was like, what do you do?
You know, I’ve always been told that you cannot get electrocuted on rubber tires.
So I tell the kids, don’t touch me. Don’t get off the four wheeler.
And I’m thinking the same thing.
So I have no other option except pick it up to get off of it.
I’d looked up across the field and I seen my cousin was outside.
So I I was like, all right, I’m going to go to my cousin’s house.
I had to pick it up. I had to do something.
So I picked it up, got through it, went to my cousin’s house.
And I told him, I said, Travis, I don’t know why, but there’s a power line down.
This is the first warm day of the year. There’s going to be kids in this neighborhood ride four-wheelers around here. I was scared to death that somebody would hit it.
So I tell my cousin, I said, let’s go down there. I want to show you where it is.
So we go down and I’m standing or I’m on the four-wheeler still, but like right in front of the line.
And I tell him, I said, you know, the guy, I figured out a guy where it broke. So the pole was leaning.

[11:17] And I said, man, it’s 30 inches off the ground. I said, if a kid in a neighborhood rides a dirt bike and they’re running wide open, at that point, I was starting to think about decapitation. You know, somebody hitting that line.
And I was like, I don’t know what to do. Like, do we try to prop it up? Do we call somebody now?
Do we stay here till somebody gets here? Like, what do we do?
And at that time, I was looking at him. And I said, man, if that line was this high, and I just kind of put my hand out to say if it was this high, it would be okay.
And when I did that, I just felt that vibration going through my body.
And I don’t know if I touched it. I don’t know if the electricity jumped.
I have no idea. I just remember the vibration going through my body.
Like, were you knocked out unconscious?
For 30 seconds, I was. Your heart could have stopped. Yeah. It did stop. Okay.
So I found that out later in the hospital. When I took 7200, it did stop my heart, which they said was probably the best thing that could happen.
And the reason it was the best thing to happen is your body knows that your heart needs to start back up.
So it’s trying to say, hey, you got to fire back up.
If your heart goes into like a flutter, your body doesn’t know.
It knows it’s working. It doesn’t know it’s working all the way.
That’s how it was explained to me.

[12:36] That’s when people die with electricity because their heart’s not going it’s not pumping enough blood so when mine stopped and then I took electricity for 30 seconds and it threw me off the back of the four-wheeler and when I hit the ground I either hit the ground hard enough to start it back up or it was enough power right at the end to just kind of same thing as putting your paddles on you know what I mean and shocking your heart one of the other started my heart back up and I immediately woke up.
What did your cousin say was happening when you were out of it?
So he said I looked like Fourth of July was coming off of me. Oh, really?
Yeah, he said there were sparks flying and I think his first thought was he’s dead.
Like there’s nothing that I’m going to be able to do. And I mean, he don’t talk about it a lot.
So I’m assuming that it was not a very good scene, you know?
So Jason, are you locked on it then? you’re locked on it for 30 seconds? Yep.
Oh my goodness. Okay, so this happens, you come to, now what?

[13:41] So as soon as I wake up, I feel like I’m on fire because electricity burns you from the inside out.
And I know a lot more about it now than I did. But I felt like I was literally on fire.
So I was trying to climb down into a ditch to cool off with water.
And my cousin was grabbing me and pulling me out.

[14:00] He had already called 911. He’d already called his dad.

[14:04] So my uncle came down. My uncle was holding me. I remember him holding me in his lap, just like keeping me from getting in the ditch.
I mean, I remember the ambulance coming down. I remember getting loaded up in the ambulance and my wife was at home.
And I tell people like, you know, sometimes when you’re working on something just like today, we had problems getting on Zoom because of the weather. Right. Right.
And you’re sitting there thinking, why? Why is this not working for me?
My wife was making this wedding invitation. Our power at our house went out.
Right. Right. Like it shut my whole neighborhood down.
So can you imagine my wife doing all this stuff?
Maybe she was halfway done and then boom, everything shuts off.
And her first thought is, well, crap, I just lost the last 10 minutes of what I was doing. Right. Right.

[14:55] And not knowing at that second that the reason that power went off is because her husband is back in the back of the place that’s fixing to change her entire life. You know what I mean?
And I think about it it like that and it’s like man you know and that’s why i tell my story is like the things that we complain about is not worth complaining about you know what i mean but anyway she came down to the scene of the accident and uh when she got down there she got in the ambulance with me and and i told her i said it’s going to be okay and i looked i was already wrapped up by the time she got down there but my left thumb was basically barely hanging on so i knew i was going to lose my left thumb.

[15:35] So my grandfather passed away about three months before I got hurt.
And he was a single arm amputee. He lost his in a corn picker.
So when I was in that ambulance, I told my wife, I said, you know, Papa lost his entire arm.
And I’m just going to lose my thumb. Like, it’s really not that big of a deal.
And I kept on like over and over in my head thinking about Papa and the things that he could do as a single arm amputee.

Reflecting on the accident aftermath

[16:01] There’s no reason for me to complain about a thumb. and and i didn’t know anything else until after my surgery once i got into owensboro hospital yeah doctors running in and out and and then they come in and they say hey we have a helicopter coming to get you you’re going to go to either nashville or louisville to a burn unit and i was like it’s just my thumb like it’s really not that big of a deal i remember a helicopter coming i remember getting inside the helicopter i remember getting the air i end up going to nashville Tennessee and I remember going from where our hospital was to Nashville is south and my house is south and I remember going right over where I was hurt and my left shoulder was touching the window and I remember looking down and still seeing people here like working on stuff wow and I remember the nurse saying that she was going to calf me in a helicopter and she did she calfed me me.
I remember seeing my urine bag and it looked like Dr. Pepper.
I didn’t know what it was at the time.
I found out later on that my urine looked like Dr.
Pepper because when you get electrocuted, it burns you from the inside out and it causes poisonous toxins inside your body, which is released somewhere and it goes through your body. And the only place it can go is through your kidneys.
So that the darkness of my urine was blood and poison going through my body.

[17:25] Didn’t know it at the time, but they didn’t care about my hands or my legs or whatever. I was about to die because my kidneys were shutting down.

[17:34] So I get to Vanderbilt. I remember…
Getting off the helicopter i remember going down the hallway i remember going into a room that looked like a morgue everything was stainless steel and at that moment it’s like you know is this what you see when you die i you know i was kind of coherent i i don’t know i didn’t know where i was you know what i mean like i remember all this stuff but i don’t really know where i am, and um that room was called hydro okay hydro is where they take a pressure washer and they They wash your dead skin off of you.
So my whole right arm was third-degree burns.
So they had to wash all that off. They had to wait on my wife to get there to sign release forms to basically go to surgery.
And she signed release forms as soon as she got there.
And immediately they amputated both arms. And I had no clue that was going to happen. I mean, no idea.
When Jenny signed the consent, did she know what was going to happen?
Yes. She did. Okay. And, you know, later on, just for you all, if you go on YouTube, you can find a lot of stuff, you know, on YouTube about me and my wife.
And there’s one video, it’s called the Jason Cobra Testimony.
And that was right after I got home.
And Jenny just remembers that, you know, Jason here without arms, I can live with. Jason dead, I cannot.
And at that moment, it didn’t matter what they had to do in order to save my life. It was, let’s do it. Let’s try it. So, yeah. Yeah.
How were your feet? Were your feet okay?

[19:03] So electricity came on my right foot. Okay. And it blew my tennis shoe.
They found my shoe at 30 feet from where I was. 30 feet?
Yeah. But they didn’t do anything. There was no damage in my legs.
When the electricity came out, it cauterized itself up. So there was no exit wounds.
I still have a scar. It looks like a check mark, which is the same shape as my brake pedal on my my four wheeler is what it looks like.
So at what point on your arm did they amputate? Is it below your elbow?
Is it above your elbow? It’s below your elbow on both.

Awakening to a new reality

[19:38] Oh, my God. How was it when you woke up? Right. So when I woke up, I didn’t know that I was an amputee, obviously.
And I was strapped to a bed because it broke or I had a small fracture in my neck and back, too. It was enough power to do that.
And I remember seeing my nurse and I just remember asking her is like, I want to see my dad.
Like I told you earlier, it’s like my dad always was that person that if you can get through it or we will get through it. Yeah. However, however it is.
So my mom and dad walk in a room and I’m laying there and I still got feeding tubes and all that kind of stuff.
And I’m like, how bad is it? And my dad said, we will get through this one way or another. We’ve always had faith.
God has a plan, but they had to amputate both the arms.
And I don’t even remember like right then when he told me that, I think I just kind of went back to sleep or, you know what I mean?
And then like really the next thing I remember is being in a real room.

[20:34] I remember my doctor. The first doctor I met was Dr. Jeffrey Guy.
I still talk to Dr. Guy all the time. He’s so close to me.
He walks in the room with me, and I’m 29 years old, two daughters at home, wife.
My wife’s 27 at the time, and he looks down at me.
He says, hey, before you get out of this hospital, I want to make sure that you reach one go.
I want you to set a go for yourself, and I want to help you.
He said, you’re going to be in this hospital but for at least two months.
And I was like, dude, I’m not gonna be in here for two months.
Like I don’t have time to be in here for two months.
And I remember telling him that, you know, if I can hold my girls again, it’s really all I cared about.

[21:13] I remember him like that’ll happen. You know, I think it was a couple of days after I woke up, Dr.
Guy comes in the room and, you know, I told him what I wanted.
And I mean, we both cried. You know what I mean? Like it was hard.
But anyway, a few days later, Dr. Guy walks in the room. He says, hey, Jason, your kids are here to see you.
I’m going to bring them into your room. And I said, no, you’re not.
I said, I want to go to the waiting room. That’s what I want to do.
And he said, bud, you can’t. Like you got feeding tubes.
You got catheters. I mean, you got all this heart monitors. You got hoses hanging out of your arms.
It’s not going to work. And I said, well, you put it in. You can take it out.
And I sat there and argued with him for a long time and talked him into taking my stuff out because I wanted to go to the waiting room.
And I went to the waiting room, held my kids for the first time.
And I think that was the first day that I had that peace that literally everything’s going to be OK.

[22:05] All right, Steph, I’m going to test you again here. What is your favorite book of all time? Obviously, it’s the Bible, Kevin. Yes. Nailed it.
Very good. This time you didn’t say the book we wrote called You Met Her Where.
But it’s still a really good book. That is true. And it would make a great gift for friends or relatives on their birthday or for Christmas.
Friends, you can order your copy of our book titled You Met Her Where at kevinandsteph.com.
And we will make sure to personally sign a copy for you or whoever you want.
And as always, thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.

Phantom Pain and Weather Sensitivity

[22:36] How hard was phantom pain for you? It still hurts. Does it?
Yeah. Depends on weather most of the time. Like if weather will stay still, I’m okay.
It’s the barometric pressure is what they say. That’s when it hurts mostly.
That’s what I was going to ask. Do you still feel like you have your fingers, your hands? I do.
Yep. My hands feel like they’re right here.
Okay. Like they don’t feel like they’re in space. When you say right here for listeners, it’s literally like. Mid forearm.
Yes, your forearm. Where you’re amputated. Yep. That’s where you feel that amputation.
I guess the best way to describe it is if you take your hand off wherever you’re amputated, they stuck your hand right back inside and sewed it up.
You know what I mean? So it’s like right on the end. Okay.

Hospital Stay and Determination

[23:23] Interesting. So how long were you in the hospital then?
12 days. Shut up.

[23:28] Are you freaking kidding me? Okay.
So same thing. You’re probably talking to the doctor. Like, no, go ahead and take all this stuff out of me. I’m going home. Absolutely. Wow.
Okay. Jason, that’s what I told him. You’re an avid hunter you love to hunt this happened on March 1st right your accident is it true in April you were out hunting I did yeah But it was funny because I had to ask I called dr.
Guy, okay, and I asked him I said hey I got a question for you. So what’s that?
I said because I’m still talking to him all time So anyway, I called him and I said hey my buddy wants me go turkey hunt canna and.

[24:09] And at this time, I was doing stuff that he couldn’t believe.
I mean, I drove my pickup truck the day I got home. What? 13 days.
Yes, 13 days after losing my hands, I figured out how to start my truck, and I drove my truck around my grandfather’s farm.
I was very determined to get back.
So I called him and asked him about going turkey hunting, and he said, I mean, I guess.
Like, why do you think you can’t do it? Like, I don’t even know what to tell you.

[24:34] And I said, well, I’m afraid a tick’s going to get inside my open wound, and they’ll have to amputate again more you know and i said i don’t want that so he said no as long as you spray off really good you’ll be fine you know everything will be fine i was like cool so um that’s what i did i went and uh i told my buddy i stayed at my buddy’s house that night i told him i said man if we can figure out kind of how to navigate the gun like i’m gonna just sit next to you i’m gonna try to figure out how you do what you do i don’t care if i kill a turkey like i’m in the woods you know what i mean like it’s all that matters and i said but i want to spend the night with you i want to uh get up in the morning with you and i said but you’re gonna take care of me like i still can’t use the bathroom on my own you know and so my buddy sam was like hey you’re like a brother to me so don’t worry about it we’re gonna we got it and uh at his house that night we were sitting there and he walks in and he hands this gun and lays it in my lap, and he said i’m not hunting tomorrow you are i was like ain’t no way i have no arms no no prosthetics, you know?
And he said, I think I got it figured out. So he took the two screws out of the brother shotgun.

[25:43] He put a ratchet strap on it and he strapped it to my shoulder. Yes.
And he, he put a tripod on the front with a radiator hose clamp and a stream from the trigger to my mouth.
And I was like, dude, we’re going to end up in Vanderbilt. Again, this, this friend of yours sounds like MacGyver. He is. Jeez.

[26:04] So, um, We went hunting the next morning, and man, I’ll never forget hearing that gobble.
And I knew that the turkey had to come in front of me because I had to turn my shoulders.
I couldn’t spin to the right as much as I could to the left.
So I said, if a turkey comes from my left, I got it. If it comes from the right, I don’t.
And I’ll never forget hearing that gobble out of my left ear and thinking, he’s on that side. Yeah.
And I remember watching him coming down the logging road.
And I waited until he got in front of the gun and pulled the trigger and shot my first turkey a month after my accident.
Did you tell the doctor? Was he freaking out? He loved it. Yeah.

[26:45] So you didn’t even take any practice shots? I didn’t. Not one?
I mean, I dry fired it in the living room without a shell in it.
Just pulling it and you could hear it click. Then all that was the first shot.
Wow. Okay. Okay, I can only imagine the reaction of your buddy.
You and your buddy out there, probably in a tree stand.
No, sitting on the ground. Sitting on the ground, okay. Yep.
The reaction of when you hit the turkey.
Oh, I bet. Was there tears? Oh, had to be. Oh, yeah. Totally.
Screaming and tears, the best part. What a good friend, Jason.
Seriously. Absolutely. You know, I tell people all the time, like, my community and my family, my friends, like, Like, I had everything going correctly.
And honestly, I heard somebody say the other day is like, you cannot mess up God’s plan.
You know what I mean? Like, he had all this figured out way before March 1st, 2008.
You know, he had the right people in my life. He had the right things in my life.
And I think, unfortunately, I went through a lot of pain and a lot of trials.
And I know that some people go through stuff like that and are like why why would God even do this to me?
You know what I mean? And and I really truly believe that he’s done more for me since 2008 than he did before 2008 I feel like this is my calling.
I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and that’s what I love.

Life After the Accident and Support System

[28:13] So how was your wife through all of this I.

[28:17] Um, she’s got her own story. I don’t even know if she could tell you what the first year was like, because I mean, she’s still with me.
You know what I mean? And that’s at 2728.
All she had to do was leave and say, I don’t want this life.
She could have packed up the kids and said, I’m done.
But instead, she became a nurse for a year and a half. She wasn’t my wife, really.
You know what I mean? Like, obviously, we talked a little bit, but it was more about the rehab part of me getting back back to living.
She would have to help me to go to the bathroom. But she got to the point where she would give my oldest a bath, then my second daughter a bath.
Then she’d give me a bath. Well, then she didn’t want to take a bath because she was too tired. Or she would feed my oldest. She would feed my youngest.
She would feed me. My food was cold. And then she’d feed herself.
Hers was colder than mine.
So, I mean, it’s a lot of stress. I mean, don’t get me wrong.
It was hard, word, but we made it work.
Yeah. So how many surgeries have you had at this point then, Jason?
Oh, I had multiple surgeries the first three days. So I was in a induced coma for the first three days of amputations every day.
And then I had skin grafts and then they cut me open and they put Integra in and then they did another skin graft.
And then I had a wound back for six months and And then I had to get the wound back removed and all that kind of stuff.
And then my last skin graft was on December the 5th.
So I got hurt March 1st, 2008.

[29:46] December the 5th was my last surgery. And my daughter’s first birthday was December the 6th.
And I told Dr. Guy, I said, if you’re going to do the surgery on the 5th, I’m not staying in the hospital. I’m going home.
And I said, if you cannot promise me that, I’m not going to have the surgery until after her birthday. I’m going to be home on her birthday.
And I was. I mean, he told me, he said, I usually don’t do this, but I will.

[30:11] Jason, you sound like a great patient at the hospital.
A nurse’s dream, right? A doctor’s dream, like, hey, who wants to take care of this? He doesn’t listen to anything you say.

Bionic Arms and Functionalities

[30:27] Do you have any amnesia like it doesn’t sound like from the accident but maybe like post like do you remember your wedding do you remember you as a senior in high school anything like that i do um but i forget a lot a little bit of stuff and they told me that i could but i do have all my memory of the big things that’s happened in my life you know okay so let’s talk talking about your arms okay because looking at these listeners if you’re not viewing this he’s got two bionic arms here and you have pictures of your family it looks like actually on these arms and what looks like a like a yes a collage of your family that’s fantastic and it looks like and then on your left arm you’ve got a hook on your right arm you’ve got a What looks like a robotic hand.
Uh-huh. Yep. Okay, so how did it end up where you have these two arms?
So the hand came out in 2008. Okay. Oh. It was made by Touch Bionics.
It was really a timing thing.
Not that I was the first in the world just because I was me.
I was the first in the world because I tried to get the hands.
I was denied multiple times by insurance. insurance. I was told by doctors that it wasn’t medically necessary.
They had never seen me in their life. And I fought that all the time.
And really how I got them, in my opinion, is I found out about the person that said that it wasn’t medically necessary for me to have prosthetics or the hands or whatever.

[31:55] And I remember finding out who that person was and I called him and I said, even if the only thing that I can do with these hands would be hold my kids hands to walk across the street.
I deserve that. Like I’m a dad. I deserve the little stuff in life.
I deserve the big stuff in life. And I want these hands.
And I think that that hit hit his heart.
And I became the first person in the world with two of the bionic hands.

[32:20] So I’ve decided to wear a hand on the right hook on the left.
Also i got a little boy now he just turned 12 if he’s listening to me i grab him with the hand if he don’t i grab him with the hook so okay is it true you can your hand will like spin around it can so it can spin all the way around look at that stuff how do you do that so if you’re watching it you’ll be able to see what i’m doing but when you feel like you raise your wrist in in the air like this, like I’m just pushing it up.
So when you feel like that, if you’ll put your other hand like right below your elbow, now raise it up, you feel a muscle go up in the air. Yeah. Yeah.

Guest Appearance on Hawaii Five-0

[33:01] So then when you lower your wrist, there’s a muscle down here.
So whenever you lower, you’ll feel a muscle.
Totally. So it goes back to the question you asked me a minute ago, can I feel my hands? I can.
So when I raise my wrist, it opens. When I lower my wrist, it closes because I have sensors laying on those two muscles.
Okay. And then once it opens up, if I put my hand in the area, it won’t go into a grip because it has to be parallel to the ground.
Then I’m back in open and closed. Then I can also stall fingers out.
If I shake somebody’s hand, it will form the grip of their hand. Big, small, whatever.

[33:33] It’s just like if I grab a ball or just whatever because these two are hitting something these two didn’t, so the two shut.
It’s not like I’m going to shake your hand and it’s just going to be open.
You’re going to crush my hand when I shake it.
It’s funny you brought up RoboCop. So, did you know I did an episode on Hawaii Five-0?
I only know that from talking to you and looking at your book.
But yes, please tell us the story of how that happened. Okay.
So, when I first got hurt, Hawaii Five-0 was remaking an episode from the 70s called the Hookman episode.

[34:05] Well, the Hookman episode was a guy that had lost two arms, but he had two hooks.
And he was a bad guy, killed a bunch of people, and they couldn’t find his fingerprints.
They wanted to remake that episode with a guy that had bionic hands.
Well, they didn’t think they could find it. It’s like, all right, we’re going to make this. It’s going to be fake.
So they hired RoboCop, Peter Weller, and he was going to be the bionic hand guy in this show.

[34:29] Well, they tried to make it work, and they couldn’t make it look like he had fake hands. So then they got to Googling. They found me.
And it was funny because at this time, I was on CNN. I had been on several different news things.
And people, amputees or prosthetists or therapists were reaching out to me.
How are you doing what you’re doing? Like, how do you tie your shoes?
How do you dress? How do you feed yourself? I mean, all this stuff.
So this girl calls me from Hawaii. And she’s like, hey, I got some questions for you. I was like, okay. Can you show us your hand? I was like, yeah.
How’s it work? And I told her, she said, can you hold a coffee cup?
And I was like, yeah, that’s kind of an odd question, you know, and can you write your name? Yep. Can you hold a gun? Yes.
So then she was like, all right, can we zoom tomorrow? Can we talk, you know, and I’ve never zoomed anybody in my life at this time.
I said, yeah, we can talk tomorrow. Cause I’m really quick about sharing my story. So I’ll talk to anybody.

[35:20] So, uh, I tell my wife at night, I was like, Hey, there’s a girl want to talk to me and I really don’t know what she wants.
And it’s gonna be we’re gonna be talking on the screen so i don’t know what she’s gonna be wearing i mean i have no clue so yes first time on a video chat yeah the next day i get on zoom, and there’s this conference room full of people i was like all right this is weird so they get to hey can you show me how you hold a coffee cup so you know i mean i’m sitting there i’m like yeah grab a drink put a drink in my hand and and then uh can you show me how you hold a gun i do that that by the time this guy gets in front of the camera and he goes, hey Jason, my name’s Peter Linkoff.
I’m the senior producer for Y5O.
We’re doing this episode called the Hoopman episode. We want a guy that has two bonnet cans. You’re the only dude in the world that’s got them. Like we need you.

[36:08] I was like, well, good thing, but I’m not an actor. So I don’t know how to do this stuff.
It don’t matter. We got an actor. You’re just going to be a body double.
We only need you in Hawaii for two or three days.
Fly back home. Okay. So I go to Hawaii.
Never been around an actor in my entire life. We go on set. Never been in front of cameras like this.
I mean, I’ve been on the CNN stuff, but this is like a whole group of people, right? Like a movie set.
Yeah. Yes. So I get there and there’s this guy laying on the ground and he’s got the same looking and clothes i got on and they said you see that guy right there and i said yeah he goes well that’s robocop from the 80s peter weller i said well that’s cool yeah i mean obviously big fan of the 80s robocop i mean i was a kid when that happened and they said he is the amputee in the show so we need your hand and his face so can you go over and lay on top of him put your arm underneath his armpit and pull the trigger and i was like are y’all serious i mean i just got on and they said yeah i mean just go lay on top of him okay so i go over and i go to lay on top of him and and i’m i’m almost like hesitant like do i stop they’re making they’re gonna make a joke about something like this really is not what i’m supposed to do and i’m halfway down and they don’t say anything i’m like okay so i’ll go and lay on top of him so at this time i’m spooning robocop I got my arm underneath his armpit and I get to laughing and I’ll never forget him looking up at me.
He’s like, dude, what are you laughing about?

[37:36] I said, man, I’m from Kentucky, and you’re the first dude I ever laid on top of. And I said, maybe it wouldn’t be so weird if I at least knew your name or said hello or something first.

[37:45] And he’s like, yeah, I mean, I’ve just never had anybody just lay on top of me either.
And he and I became so close, man. Like, we still talk.
You know, not every week, but once a month at least, you know, we’ll text or call or catch up or whatever.
And we’ve done that since probably 2012, I guess, when it was.
And another quick story about RoboCop in general.
I mean, I became really good friends with all the actors. I had a blast.
I spent two and a half weeks on that set because I did more than they could even imagine that I could do.
I was doing stuff I couldn’t believe I could do. Like, wait, wait, wait. Like what? Like what?
Like building sniper rifles. And they didn’t think I could put it all together.
And it was a lot more than just writing your name and holding a coffee cup.
You know what I mean? And if you watch that episode, just called the Hookman episode.
Okay. It was season three, episode 15 on YouTube.
And when you see the hand, it’s all me.
And then they put a cameo of me in afterwards. They put a cameo at the very end just so that my face is in there, just so I can prove to people I was there. RoboCop did that.

Audience Engagement and Conclusion of Episode

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Unexpected Visit and Impact on Others

[39:20] He called me. It was the following March.
And he called me. He said, hey, I want to come to your house and see you.
And I was like, you want to come to Owensboro, Kentucky for what?
And he said, man, I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I’ve never been around somebody so inspiring as you.
And he said, I want to surround myself with people that you surround yourself with.
I was like, wow, that’s pretty impactful. You know, a kid from Kentucky that lives in the middle of nothing can inspire somebody that everybody knows.
You know what I mean? Like, there’s not a person in this world.
They might not know who Peter Weller is.
There’s not a person in this world that knows who Robocop or the movie Robocop. Yeah.
And I called him a few days before he came in. I said, what are we going to do? He said, whatever you want.
I said, well, people from my hometown has never met an actor before.
So can we do something, have a party? He’s like, I’ll do whatever.
So I set up a party. And the day before I picked him up, I climbed up in the attic to get this toy box that I had.
And when I opened it up, the first thing on top was a poster of RoboCop. Oh, wow.
Like, I saved that poster from the 80s. And now he’s coming to my house.
So he comes to my house and he walks in. I was like, dude, I’ve never asked you for an autograph. But I said, I found this in the attic yesterday.

[40:39] Showed it to him. He’s like, man, that came out of a Nintendo magazine. And I do that.
And he was like, heck yeah. So he signed it. But then I had this party.
I was like, I’m going to charge $10 per person to get in.
Don’t know what I do with the money. Don’t know how much money it’d be anyway.

[40:54] So charged $10 per person to get in. Had this big party called Handing Back.
I wanted to give back to my community. The next day, me and RoboCop’s in my house just counting money, $18,000.
No. That’s a big party. So I gave $18,000 to seven different local charities in my hometown.
I did that show the next year. RoboCop came back. It was $21,000 the second time I did it.
And I gave it to all the elementary schools for Christmas Wish that year. And then COVID hit.
And I haven’t done it since. That’s amazing.
When you said he asked, you asked him, like, hey, what do you want to do?
I thought you were going to say, hey, do you want a spoon again? Like, you know.

[41:39] We made a video and he talked about it at the concert. Well, listeners, his book is titled Handed, A Greater Purpose. It’s fantastic.
Great looking book. I’ve gone through it. There’s a lot of great pictures in there, which I appreciated, Jason, in regards to sharing the story.
And listeners, for more information about Jason, you can go to his social media pages. On Instagram, it’s at jkoger84.
On Facebook, it’s jasonkogerofficial.
And then his website is jasonkoger.com.
And where can folks get your book, Jason?
So it is on Amazon, but I try to tell people go to my website because if you email my website, it goes straight to me.
You know, I do have a publishing place that the books come out of.
But if anybody wants to get a hold of me, I’m really easy to get a hold of because I I want to share my story.
So you can go to my website, buy the book, Amazon, buy the book, email me, just whatever. It’s super easy.

[42:35] Well, thank you for doing this. And apparently your hands are in Columbus a lot. It sounds like. They’re there right now.
Are they really? Okay. Well, Steph and I need to meet you in person.
We would love to take you out for lunch or something.
So next time you’re in Columbus, please let us know because we absolutely want to meet you in person, Jason.
Wait, just to clarify, is it the doctor or the companies here in Columbus that does your arms or hands?
So the engineers are in Scotland. The home office is called Oster. Oster is in California.
And then they have an upper limb division that is in Columbus, Ohio.
Okay. Wow. And that’s why I go to Columbus all the time is because that’s the upper limb facility for them. So the pictures you see, I get these made in Texas at a place called Arm Dynamics.
And then the hand comes from Oster, which is in the Columbus office.

[43:32] Fantastic. Well, can’t wait to meet you, sir. Thank you for doing this, Jason. Thanks, Jason.
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