Adam Kingsmill

Smithers six-year-old Adam Kingsmill has been skating since he was two, and even after losing his right leg nothing stops him from playing his favourite sport.
“In organized hockey, this year is his first,” Adam’s mother Bobbie Brine-Kingsmill said during an interview at Smithers Civic Centre.
“The kid is pretty aggressive too. We have to tell him sometimes to pull back.”
Adam’s passion for hockey has spilled over into many aspects of his life. Adam, Bobbie said, is fearless. On Spring Break he went skiing for the first time.
She said he had no trouble skiing, because he knew how to use the ski’s edges due to his ice skating.
“[Hockey] just gives him more confidence,” Bobbie said.
Last January Adam received his new ‘hockey leg’ with the Canuck’s logo laminated on it. He quickly adapted to his new prosthetic leg, Bobbie said, as the leg fit better, which in turn improved Adam’s hockey game.
“It was amazing. He just took right off,” Bobbie said.
However, when Adam is older, and his growth slows, Bobbie said, the family will look into getting him a prosthetic leg specifically for hockey.
Unlike Adam’s current prosthetic leg, one specific to hockey would have the skate in place of a foot.
The edges of the skate are custom made to balance out Adam’s placement of body weight.
“With that what they can do is tailor it to the way he skates,” Bobbie said.
Bobbie said Adam continually amazes her, since the accident in 2000 when Bobbie was uncertain if Adam would survive the flight to the Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.
“We were getting ready to go on holiday,” Bobbie said. “I was trying to help my husband by cutting the lawn.”
She said the grass was wet from drizzle, when all of a sudden Adam dashed out of the sandbox towards the lawn tractor. She put out her arm to stop him but Adam’s rubber boots slipped on the lawn causing him to slide under the lawn tractor.
She quickly wrapped a towel around his leg, called the ambulance, her mother, husband and then waited for help to arrive.
“You really don’t know how far you live out of town until you call the ambulance,” Bobbie said of the slow minutes waiting to hear the sirens coming.
After a 50-minute flight on a jet, Adam and Bobbie were at the hospital.
It took six days in the hospital and six weeks of physiotherapy before Adam was able to return to Smithers. Bobbie said she was constantly reminded of the accident when she first arrived home.
“I heard everything still, the lawn mower, him screaming,” Bobbie said.
But Adam seem to have no recollection of the accident and was soon jumping off the deck like any other rambunctious child. And he has not stopped since.
“He has just got that spunk in him,” Bobbie said.
In addition to playing hockey, Adam is a B.C. Safety Ambassador for The War Amp’s Child Amputee Program (CHAMP).
Adam has been featured in a series of national advertisements as the B.C. Safety Ambassador and also rode in the Grey Cup parade in November. His latest advertisement promoting safe play will be airing soon, Bobbie said.
As for his future, Bobbie said, she finds it hard to even imagine what Adam will be up to five years from now.
The Canadian Amputee Hockey Team have been in contact with the family, offering programs and camps for Adam. Bobbie said when he is older, Adam may get involved with the program.
“Hopefully he will still be sticking with hockey,” Bobbie said. “But we will support him no matter what he does.”