David Norcott, 35, is a "bilateral AK [Above Knee] amputee," who lost his legs as the result of a head-on automobile collision on Sept. 2, 1998. He's looking for a job~~Not sympathy.

Norcott had neither a pulse nor a heartbeat and was so badly mangled and burned that, he says, he would likely have been taken to the morgue instead of the hospital. A firefighter found his MedStar identification card and told the paramedic dispatched to the scene that the badly burned victim was a co-worker.

"The firefighter who put out the fire thought I was dead, but the MedStar paramedic worked on me any way and had me Care Flighted to Parkland Burn Center," says Norcott, who suffered fourth-degree burns.

His right leg was amputated two days after the fiery crash and the left one one four months later afther numerous skin grafts failed. Norcott was hospitalized 11 months. During the first three months he was unconscious and on a ventilator.

"At times nobody knew if I would live through the day. Then they were concerned about who or what I would be if I ever woke up," he says.

Today, Norcott is looking for a job and planning his wedding. He needs a job to help make the $16,000 copayment on the computerized legs being designed for him at Hanger Prosthetics. The "c-legs," as Norcott calls them, have a computer controlled hydraulic knee system and cost $40,000 each. Medicare will cover 80 percent of the cost of the prosthesis for patients who have exhausted other forms of health insurance, but that still leaves the patient~~who often is unable to re-enter the work force until he/she gets a prosthesis and learns how to use it~~with a big bill, acknowledges Mark Ashford, Norcott's prosthetist.

The C~legs will allow Norcott to climb stairs and ramps, drive a car again~~perhaps even to run a marathon. "I ran for fitness while I was working as a paramedic. Why shouldn't I run a marathon with my prosthethesis?" Norcott asks. "If you tell someone he can't do something, he wants to do it all the more."

The C~legs can be programmed according to how fast a patient walks and whether he/she is walking up and down steps or a ramp.

"We can fine~tune them to his gait, and they are much safer and more stable than most prostheses," Ashford says. "They allow you to stand with out locking your knee and to bend your knee without it buckling. You can walk step over step with a very natural gait. As David gets better at using them, we can change the settings to allow him to go just about anywhere he wants. He is incredibly motivated, a great candidate for these~~if we can just get the funding in place."

Bending his knee has been a long~time goal for Norcott. About 18 months ago, while he was in rehab learning to use an earlier set, of legs, he vowed to get down on one knew to ask Lecia Oliver, his friend and neighbor, to marry him.

However, he was working out so hard and gotten so strong that he broke the socket of one of his prostheses shortly before the big day.

"The hard outside shell just cracked, and suddenly I had no stability," Norcott recalls, "They tried to fix it, but the first time donned it after the repairs, I took one step and it cracked again~~twice as long a crack."

Norcott made do with duct tape and a temporary prosthesis for a couple of weeks until the socket could be permanently repaired. But now his stumps have shrunk up so much that he says it's like trying to walk in shoes that are much too big and keep coming off. So he is waiting for the new C~legs to get back to serious walking again.

In the meantime he asked Lecia to marry him from his wheelchair. She said yes.

"She had been going with me to rehab, and I really wanted to surprise her in front of our friends at the Smart Institution [rehabilitation center], but it didn't quite work out," he recalls.

The two were introduced by his sister, and the courtship included her son bringing Norcott piggyback upstairs to her apartment before Norcott was able to crawl up on his own.

"My kids knew him from the [apartment complex] pool and really liked him before I even met him," Oliver says. "My daughter kept asking him to take out his telescope and show us the stars and planets, over and over, so we could get to know each other. Finally one day she said, Ya'll know each other so well, you really should start dating."

They did.

And they recently purchased a home together, which is much more wheelchair~friendly and has room for the whole family.

"My goal is to get back into the work force at some kind of entry~level position and bring my healing full circle by Nov.1 when we get married," he says "The support group has been great for us. We both got certified as peer visitors so we can meet with other people who might have questions and help them figure out what this is all about. You feel so alone, and you are not sure if your questions are even valid, in the beginning. It's a very humbling experience." "If I had known someone to call in the beginning, I don't think my healing would have taken so long. My hope is to be an intergral part of someone else's healing."

David Norcott & Lecia Oliver