November 25, 2020 at 4:59 p.m.
A blessed bond
Shared experience forged friendship between Jay County High School student and his teacher
A blessed bond
Hunter Miller walked into Cody Linville’s classroom for the first time as a Jay County High School freshman.
A student in Linville’s animal science class, Miller made an almost instant connection with his new teacher.
“He was my favorite teacher,” said Miller. “We sort of clicked.”
“I was mean,” he added, referencing good-natured teasing. “He was mean back.”
Linville, sitting at his desk at JCHS with Miller across the room, laughed.
Two years later, their connection would grow. Built on the foundation of a natural chemistry, their bond has been forged through trauma, shared experience and, literally, metal.
Off the road
Miller was driving home from his girlfriend’s house on the evening of Nov. 19, 2019.
He and his mom, Kristy Rogers Seiter, had talked earlier that day about the importance of responsibility. Part of that included arriving back home at the appointed hour. He was due by 10 p.m.
It was 10:05 p.m. when Seiter started to wonder. Her son wasn’t home yet.
She tried to call, but only got voicemail. She texted his girlfriend. Just as she finished sending the text, her phone rang. It was Miller.
Her son explained that he had been in an accident. She asked if he was OK.
“I don’t know,” Miller responded.
That’s when a different voice came on the phone.
“He’s messed up pretty bad. He’s OK. Help’s on the way. …
“But you need to get here.”
The assessment at the scene was that Miller had broken one leg, maybe two.
“Gut-wrenching,” Seiter said, remembering the call. “It’s awful. But at least it was him that called, so at least I heard his voice and knew he was alive.”
Miller had been driving west — toward home in Redkey — along county road 600 South when a deer ran into the roadway near Jay County Conservation Club. He swerved and missed the deer, but hit a bed of flowers, then a mailbox, then a satellite dish, then a tree.
His left leg was scraped. His right was crushed and filled with debris.
It’s believed that Miller’s right leg went through the floorboard of the 2005 Dodge Caravan he was driving. His shoe was never found.
Surgeries
Miller was taken first to IU Health Jay, where they waited as physicians decided whether to have him transported to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie or flown to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. He went to Ball, and then on to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis about 3 a.m. the next morning.
His first surgery was at noon the next day. He had another five days later and was able to go home on Thanksgiving Day.
Hunter Miller walked into Cody Linville’s classroom for the first time as a Jay County High School freshman.
A student in Linville’s animal science class, Miller made an almost instant connection with his new teacher.
“He was my favorite teacher,” said Miller. “We sort of clicked.”
“I was mean,” he added, referencing good-natured teasing. “He was mean back.”
Linville, sitting at his desk at JCHS with Miller across the room, laughed.
Two years later, their connection would grow. Built on the foundation of a natural chemistry, their bond has been forged through trauma, shared experience and, literally, metal.
Off the road
Miller was driving home from his girlfriend’s house on the evening of Nov. 19, 2019.
He and his mom, Kristy Rogers Seiter, had talked earlier that day about the importance of responsibility. Part of that included arriving back home at the appointed hour. He was due by 10 p.m.
It was 10:05 p.m. when Seiter started to wonder. Her son wasn’t home yet.
She tried to call, but only got voicemail. She texted his girlfriend. Just as she finished sending the text, her phone rang. It was Miller.
Her son explained that he had been in an accident. She asked if he was OK.
“I don’t know,” Miller responded.
That’s when a different voice came on the phone.
“He’s messed up pretty bad. He’s OK. Help’s on the way. …
“But you need to get here.”
The assessment at the scene was that Miller had broken one leg, maybe two.
“Gut-wrenching,” Seiter said, remembering the call. “It’s awful. But at least it was him that called, so at least I heard his voice and knew he was alive.”
Miller had been driving west — toward home in Redkey — along county road 600 South when a deer ran into the roadway near Jay County Conservation Club. He swerved and missed the deer, but hit a bed of flowers, then a mailbox, then a satellite dish, then a tree.
His left leg was scraped. His right was crushed and filled with debris.
It’s believed that Miller’s right leg went through the floorboard of the 2005 Dodge Caravan he was driving. His shoe was never found.
Surgeries
Miller was taken first to IU Health Jay, where they waited as physicians decided whether to have him transported to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie or flown to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. He went to Ball, and then on to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis about 3 a.m. the next morning.
His first surgery was at noon the next day. He had another five days later and was able to go home on Thanksgiving Day.
But at a follow-up appointment the next week, the family learned Miller’s right leg was infected. That led to another surgery and a six-day stay in the hospital.
With Miller at just 16 years old, doctors wanted to make every effort they could to save his leg. But after weeks of bed rest and therapy, his right foot wasn’t making any progress.
Decision
When Miller eventually returned to school, in a wheelchair, after his accident, he didn’t start back up immediately with a full class load. Instead, he spent about half of his day in Linville’s classroom.
They would talk about their situations — Linville is an amputee as a result of an accident involving farm machinery while he was in college in Illinois — and Miller would ask questions about how to cope and what to expect. The relationship became a two-way support system.
And when doctors suggested fusing the bones in Miller’s foot, a process that would have allowed him to keep the appendage, Linville had advice to offer.
“They tried to keep it for a week and then they figured out that it was just going to cause me pain forever,” said Linville of the situation after his accident. “It was the right thing to do because the pain’s no longer there. You could have a halfway functioning knee that causes you pain for the rest of your life or have it removed. And when it’s gone, it’s gone. It doesn’t really cause you much issue after that.”
A friend of Linville’s chose the other route. He had his bones fused.
“And he is in constant pain,” said Linville.
Miller had already spent months dealing with “sharp, stabbing” pain — he refused to take medications because he’s seen the effects of addiction first-hand in his family, Seiter said — and didn’t want it to continue.
“It was a solid eight, constantly,” said Miller. “Sometimes it was a 10. Eight was as low as it got.”
Miller, with support from his mom, chose amputation.
“He pretty much knew what he wanted,” said Seiter. “We had talked about it and we went through the pros and cons and all that. Ultimately it was his decision. I mean, he’s the one that has to live with it.”
Following the amputation to remove his right leg below the knee, Miller also had targeted muscle reinnervation surgery. It is designed to eliminate “phantom pain” — pain that feels like it's coming from a body part that's no longer there — but is also expected to cause severe pain in the short term.
Seiter recalls talking to her son after he woke up from the surgery.
“How you feeling, bud?” she asked him.
“Good,” he replied.
“How’s your pain?” she inquired.
“I really don’t have any,” he responded.
She kept asking him that question each time he woke up that night. And she kept getting the same answer.
When talking to a doctor later, she asked a different question.
“Is it possible that he was in so much pain the last eight months that cutting it off actually helped?” she asked.
The answer: Absolutely.
That was heartbreaking for Seiter but also served as confirmation.
“After that, we knew it was the right decision because he had been in so much pain,” she said.
Miller said he likely would have arrived at that choice even without Linville in his life. But having his teacher as both a resource and an example helped to solidify his thinking.
“I saw how well he gets along,” Miller said. “I knew it wouldn’t hold me back any.”
And now?
“Not much has changed,” he said.
Relationship
The decision to amputate came in February. When the coronavirus pandemic hit in the United States in March, the procedure had to be pushed back. It finally happened in July.
Linville has continued to be a source of support for Miller, including recommending Kristoffer Kail of Prevail Prosthetics and Orthotics in Muncie. (Seiter had considered having her son attend classes virtually for a semester, but Jay School Board’s delay and Prevail’s quick turn-around for his new leg allowed him to go in person.)
And Miller and his teacher can relate on a different level. Linville offers practical advice, like what shoes and boots work best with a prosthetic. He also notices little things, like if Miller’s gait is a little off, which can be caused by the prosthesis being a little too long or a little too short.
Linville recalls being in Miller’s shoes decades ago. His doctors tried to provide mentors to help with the coping process. He saw them as “just some old guy.”
So the fact that he and Miller had a relationship before the accident was helpful.
“It makes it a lot easier just to have somebody that knows what I’m going through and how to deal with it,” said Miller.
It’s been a godsend for Seiter as well. Throughout the process, any time her son has had a question, she’s encouraged him to text Linville.
“He’s been great for him,” said Seiter. “He was pretty close to him before all this, but then once he had his accident and even started talking about amputating it, he was there every step. …
“It has meant everything, really. Because Conner doesn’t open up. He doesn’t like to talk about anything. He doesn’t like to talk to strangers. …
“He can talk to him. He does have somebody who understands. He does have somebody he can go to. If he didn’t have Cody, he would do it all by himself. He wouldn’t ask for help. So we are truly blessed with him.”
Miller’s life is now essentially back to normal.
He enjoys bass fishing. And he’s even thought about trying out for the Jay County High School baseball team this spring, though he’s still a little hesitant about running full speed.
He works on diesel engines with his friend Konner Rodeffer and hopes to turn that hobby into a career after graduation in June.
And he has no hesitation that he made the right decision about his foot.
“At first it was super painful,” Miller said. “I was always in pain, constantly.
“After they amputated it, I was in no pain. I was a lot happier. I am a lot happier. I feel better off this way.”
A student in Linville’s animal science class, Miller made an almost instant connection with his new teacher.
“He was my favorite teacher,” said Miller. “We sort of clicked.”
“I was mean,” he added, referencing good-natured teasing. “He was mean back.”
Linville, sitting at his desk at JCHS with Miller across the room, laughed.
Two years later, their connection would grow. Built on the foundation of a natural chemistry, their bond has been forged through trauma, shared experience and, literally, metal.
Off the road
Miller was driving home from his girlfriend’s house on the evening of Nov. 19, 2019.
He and his mom, Kristy Rogers Seiter, had talked earlier that day about the importance of responsibility. Part of that included arriving back home at the appointed hour. He was due by 10 p.m.
It was 10:05 p.m. when Seiter started to wonder. Her son wasn’t home yet.
She tried to call, but only got voicemail. She texted his girlfriend. Just as she finished sending the text, her phone rang. It was Miller.
Her son explained that he had been in an accident. She asked if he was OK.
“I don’t know,” Miller responded.
That’s when a different voice came on the phone.
“He’s messed up pretty bad. He’s OK. Help’s on the way. …
“But you need to get here.”
The assessment at the scene was that Miller had broken one leg, maybe two.
“Gut-wrenching,” Seiter said, remembering the call. “It’s awful. But at least it was him that called, so at least I heard his voice and knew he was alive.”
Miller had been driving west — toward home in Redkey — along county road 600 South when a deer ran into the roadway near Jay County Conservation Club. He swerved and missed the deer, but hit a bed of flowers, then a mailbox, then a satellite dish, then a tree.
His left leg was scraped. His right was crushed and filled with debris.
It’s believed that Miller’s right leg went through the floorboard of the 2005 Dodge Caravan he was driving. His shoe was never found.
Surgeries
Miller was taken first to IU Health Jay, where they waited as physicians decided whether to have him transported to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie or flown to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. He went to Ball, and then on to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis about 3 a.m. the next morning.
His first surgery was at noon the next day. He had another five days later and was able to go home on Thanksgiving Day.
Hunter Miller walked into Cody Linville’s classroom for the first time as a Jay County High School freshman.
A student in Linville’s animal science class, Miller made an almost instant connection with his new teacher.
“He was my favorite teacher,” said Miller. “We sort of clicked.”
“I was mean,” he added, referencing good-natured teasing. “He was mean back.”
Linville, sitting at his desk at JCHS with Miller across the room, laughed.
Two years later, their connection would grow. Built on the foundation of a natural chemistry, their bond has been forged through trauma, shared experience and, literally, metal.
Off the road
Miller was driving home from his girlfriend’s house on the evening of Nov. 19, 2019.
He and his mom, Kristy Rogers Seiter, had talked earlier that day about the importance of responsibility. Part of that included arriving back home at the appointed hour. He was due by 10 p.m.
It was 10:05 p.m. when Seiter started to wonder. Her son wasn’t home yet.
She tried to call, but only got voicemail. She texted his girlfriend. Just as she finished sending the text, her phone rang. It was Miller.
Her son explained that he had been in an accident. She asked if he was OK.
“I don’t know,” Miller responded.
That’s when a different voice came on the phone.
“He’s messed up pretty bad. He’s OK. Help’s on the way. …
“But you need to get here.”
The assessment at the scene was that Miller had broken one leg, maybe two.
“Gut-wrenching,” Seiter said, remembering the call. “It’s awful. But at least it was him that called, so at least I heard his voice and knew he was alive.”
Miller had been driving west — toward home in Redkey — along county road 600 South when a deer ran into the roadway near Jay County Conservation Club. He swerved and missed the deer, but hit a bed of flowers, then a mailbox, then a satellite dish, then a tree.
His left leg was scraped. His right was crushed and filled with debris.
It’s believed that Miller’s right leg went through the floorboard of the 2005 Dodge Caravan he was driving. His shoe was never found.
Surgeries
Miller was taken first to IU Health Jay, where they waited as physicians decided whether to have him transported to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie or flown to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. He went to Ball, and then on to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis about 3 a.m. the next morning.
His first surgery was at noon the next day. He had another five days later and was able to go home on Thanksgiving Day.
But at a follow-up appointment the next week, the family learned Miller’s right leg was infected. That led to another surgery and a six-day stay in the hospital.
With Miller at just 16 years old, doctors wanted to make every effort they could to save his leg. But after weeks of bed rest and therapy, his right foot wasn’t making any progress.
Decision
When Miller eventually returned to school, in a wheelchair, after his accident, he didn’t start back up immediately with a full class load. Instead, he spent about half of his day in Linville’s classroom.
They would talk about their situations — Linville is an amputee as a result of an accident involving farm machinery while he was in college in Illinois — and Miller would ask questions about how to cope and what to expect. The relationship became a two-way support system.
And when doctors suggested fusing the bones in Miller’s foot, a process that would have allowed him to keep the appendage, Linville had advice to offer.
“They tried to keep it for a week and then they figured out that it was just going to cause me pain forever,” said Linville of the situation after his accident. “It was the right thing to do because the pain’s no longer there. You could have a halfway functioning knee that causes you pain for the rest of your life or have it removed. And when it’s gone, it’s gone. It doesn’t really cause you much issue after that.”
A friend of Linville’s chose the other route. He had his bones fused.
“And he is in constant pain,” said Linville.
Miller had already spent months dealing with “sharp, stabbing” pain — he refused to take medications because he’s seen the effects of addiction first-hand in his family, Seiter said — and didn’t want it to continue.
“It was a solid eight, constantly,” said Miller. “Sometimes it was a 10. Eight was as low as it got.”
Miller, with support from his mom, chose amputation.
“He pretty much knew what he wanted,” said Seiter. “We had talked about it and we went through the pros and cons and all that. Ultimately it was his decision. I mean, he’s the one that has to live with it.”
Following the amputation to remove his right leg below the knee, Miller also had targeted muscle reinnervation surgery. It is designed to eliminate “phantom pain” — pain that feels like it's coming from a body part that's no longer there — but is also expected to cause severe pain in the short term.
Seiter recalls talking to her son after he woke up from the surgery.
“How you feeling, bud?” she asked him.
“Good,” he replied.
“How’s your pain?” she inquired.
“I really don’t have any,” he responded.
She kept asking him that question each time he woke up that night. And she kept getting the same answer.
When talking to a doctor later, she asked a different question.
“Is it possible that he was in so much pain the last eight months that cutting it off actually helped?” she asked.
The answer: Absolutely.
That was heartbreaking for Seiter but also served as confirmation.
“After that, we knew it was the right decision because he had been in so much pain,” she said.
Miller said he likely would have arrived at that choice even without Linville in his life. But having his teacher as both a resource and an example helped to solidify his thinking.
“I saw how well he gets along,” Miller said. “I knew it wouldn’t hold me back any.”
And now?
“Not much has changed,” he said.
Relationship
The decision to amputate came in February. When the coronavirus pandemic hit in the United States in March, the procedure had to be pushed back. It finally happened in July.
Linville has continued to be a source of support for Miller, including recommending Kristoffer Kail of Prevail Prosthetics and Orthotics in Muncie. (Seiter had considered having her son attend classes virtually for a semester, but Jay School Board’s delay and Prevail’s quick turn-around for his new leg allowed him to go in person.)
And Miller and his teacher can relate on a different level. Linville offers practical advice, like what shoes and boots work best with a prosthetic. He also notices little things, like if Miller’s gait is a little off, which can be caused by the prosthesis being a little too long or a little too short.
Linville recalls being in Miller’s shoes decades ago. His doctors tried to provide mentors to help with the coping process. He saw them as “just some old guy.”
So the fact that he and Miller had a relationship before the accident was helpful.
“It makes it a lot easier just to have somebody that knows what I’m going through and how to deal with it,” said Miller.
It’s been a godsend for Seiter as well. Throughout the process, any time her son has had a question, she’s encouraged him to text Linville.
“He’s been great for him,” said Seiter. “He was pretty close to him before all this, but then once he had his accident and even started talking about amputating it, he was there every step. …
“It has meant everything, really. Because Conner doesn’t open up. He doesn’t like to talk about anything. He doesn’t like to talk to strangers. …
“He can talk to him. He does have somebody who understands. He does have somebody he can go to. If he didn’t have Cody, he would do it all by himself. He wouldn’t ask for help. So we are truly blessed with him.”
Miller’s life is now essentially back to normal.
He enjoys bass fishing. And he’s even thought about trying out for the Jay County High School baseball team this spring, though he’s still a little hesitant about running full speed.
He works on diesel engines with his friend Konner Rodeffer and hopes to turn that hobby into a career after graduation in June.
And he has no hesitation that he made the right decision about his foot.
“At first it was super painful,” Miller said. “I was always in pain, constantly.
“After they amputated it, I was in no pain. I was a lot happier. I am a lot happier. I feel better off this way.”
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