The accident that took Woody Thornton's legs was one he will never forget.
"I was in college at Auburn at the time. This was back in 1989, back before I was a Christian," Thornton said. "I used to like to go to the parties and drink and things like that, and I kind of got caught up with the binge drinking and one night I had way too much to drink and tried to walk home from a party on the railroad tracks, and I tripped and fell down and passed out.
"I got run over by a train. I wound up under the second engine; it severed both feet and I had a broken arm and a broken jaw."
Thornton now uses double prosthtics to walk, but after meeting his wife and fathering six children, Woody finished school and started to become more active.
"Several years back I started having some troubles with my legs and I went back for revision surgery in 2004-05," Thornton said. "I had both legs shortened a little and when I did that I was able to wear better prosthetics. When I did that, I started to get out and be more active, took up jogging, things like that."
Woody is now a member of the wheelchair basketball team and will be participating in this Sunday's invitational.
"When I heard about the wheelchair basketball, I wanted to try it since it was here at Auburn, and I've fallen in love with it. It's a lot of fun," Thornton said.
Creating an opportunity for other amputees is also one of woody's goals, as he is part of CAST, the Christian Amputee Support Team.
Their goal is to provide abundant life and opportunities for amputees through the love of Christ, according to their website.
Woody said he looks forward to helping the team and individuals in the future.
"My relationship with God really helped me," he said. "I really felt like I had been doing a lot of stuff for myself, and I realized I could be helping other people. And one thing I wanted to do is really reach out and try different things, show people you can still have a good life after a tragedy. It's a loss of limb, but not a loss of life."
His love for the team doesn't stop there, however.
"Getting the groundwork in for them to eventually have a college-level team is really exciting to me."
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