Quadruple amputee re-learning how to drive

HOUSTON - Katy Hayes is a quadruple amputee. Now, she’s re-learning to drive.

“I’m driving! This is how I steer a car,” Hayes told Fox 26 Houston.

Eight years ago, she had just given birth to her baby girl when she fell victim to a life-threatening flesh-eating infection. To save her life, doctors had to amputate her legs above the knee and her arms above the elbow.

After separating with her husband last year, Hayes yearned for more independence, and that meant learning how to drive again.

Chad Stromatt, who owns a rehab company, was up to the challenge, and ready to customize a vehicle to meet Hayes’s challenges. Hayes borrowed a van for her driving test, but is still not able to afford a van of her own. In the meantime, Hayes is learning how to walk better with new prosthetics too.

Hayes hosts group painting parties to help makes ends meet, and is writing a book about her own life story.