At five, Melvin Williams knew he wanted to be a dairy farmer. He had the luck to marry a woman who wanted the same thing. Carol was an RN at Pen Bay, and Melvin worked in the Marine Colloids plant in Rockland which produced carrageenan, an emulsifier derived from seaweed. But they kept their dream, and in 1974 when Melvin was 20, they found a 50-acre parcel of land in South Waldoboro that they could afford. They started with ten cows that they milked by han,d before and after work and often as late as midnight. Then, in 1984 Melvin’s union went on strike for better wages that ended up putting plant’s the labor force out of work. Melvin was devastated, but he realized he had a choice: either sell the cows and find another job, or build a barn for milking the cows, and expand. They chose the farm. At one point they had nearly 100 cows and 15 donkeys for repelling coyotes. Melvin is 70 now. His goal is to live to 100 and be the longest living person with diabetes Type 1 which he has lived for 65 years. While it’s ended his dairy farming, it’s opened other doors. A self-described self-educated man, he’s a member of the RSU 40 School Board. He’s the unofficial mayor of South Waldoboro. And he’s mentor to amputees and others, young and old who are struggling to find their way.
A cow had stepped on the little toe of my left foot, and it become gangrenous. So, I had the toe amputated. I’d already had a big toe amputated on the other foot, but it healed right up because I was younger. But at 60, my little toe wasn’t healing. And they didn’t know what to do. But I couldn’t hang around medical centers my whole life. I needed to know what the surgeon could promise.
She said if she takes my leg off just below the knee, she could almost guarantee things would heal up. I’d get a prosthetic leg and get going again. So they took the leg off. But with this new medical situation, I couldn’t keep up with the milking and things. I had to sell the cows.
The surgeon also said I’d lose the other leg. I was lucky to have gone by this long with Type 1 diabetes and both legs, which I knew. I just didn’t want it to go because it’s a lot easier to get around with one leg compared to no legs. But I knew it was coming.
She gave it five years and sure enough, five years later, the second leg had to go. First, they took off the toes but they didn’t heal. Then half of my foot, but same thing. It was getting serious. Finally, the surgeon that had taken my left leg off shows up and says, “Melvin, you know what’s going to happen. Are you ready?” And zingo! They wheeled me into the operating room, and she took the other leg off below the knee. Thanks to the epidural this time, there was no pain. And my right artificial leg fits perfect.
Don’t ever think that pain is where you think it is. My feet bother me wicked, but I have no feet! It’s all in my head! That’s why I tell anybody who’s lost a leg, and I’ve counseled a lot of people that have lost legs, “It’s going to be alright. You can get by. You can do whatever YOU want to do — not what they tell you what you can do.” I have lived the happiest, most successful life that could ever be lived in my own mind.
Now, the State of Maine, they think, “He’s an invalid. He needs to lay in a bed.” But as you might have heard, I’m still driving. I drive a passenger car with hand controls and a hand-operated emergency brake that has an automatic transmission. I can go anywhere in the country with my license. And I can climb right up on my tractor. I can get it going. I can operate the clutch. I can operate the brake pedals.
I’m not afraid of anything. The big bad wolf can come in here and I’ll kick him in the feet. I think we’re building a society that’s living on fear. That won’t help anybody. Like the guys I counsel. It’s the fear that’s dragging them down. You gotta get through the fear.
But I was a character. Wasn’t going to pay attention to nobody. Was going to do it my way. And I was probably gonna kill myself with the disease.
You see, I couldn’t hitch horses with my doctor at the diabetes center. She’d ask me, “What can I do for you?” And I’d say, “Look at me! I’m a mess!”
Well, one day I says, “You tell me that I’m the longest-term diabetic that you’ve ever taken care of, and that’s why you don’t know what to do.” And she says, “That’s right. But I’m working on it.”
I says, “I need you to commit to taking care of me the rest of my life. You’re young. And I need you.”
And she says, “I’m going to do that. You are my star patient. I’m going to take of you the rest of my life. Even if I retire, I’m coming back to take care of you. You are an outstanding patient because you listen to me.”
Now, I don’t listen to her. I like to do it my way. But she lets me do it my way, and we manage to control it. And that’s what I say to the kids and anyone who’s lost a limb or is struggling: “Don’t ever feel you’re the low man on the totem pole. You’ve got to feel that you’re going to get to the top.” Because that’s what I’m going to do.
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