LAKEWOOD, OH — James Spurgin is a unique man. He’s a rare transplant to Ohio (from California), a Marine veteran, and a record-breaking competitive weightlifter. He also wants a little help doing an incredible two-handed stone lift, a feat made more challenging because he only has one functional arm. He’s hoping an upcoming program run through St. Edward High School will help him accomplish his dream.

Challenge America: Makers For Veterans (CAMVETS) is gathering some of the finest minds in engineering and medicine to create solutions to some of the unique issues facing Ohio’s disabled veterans. The organization is making use of the revamped and expanded Joseph & Helen Lowe Institute for Innovation at St. Ed’s.

The 28,000-square-foot space, unique in the region, allows “makers” to conceive of a product and then create a prototype and test it. The Institute for Innovation boasts 3D printers, laser cutters, a wind tunnel, space for welding, and more.

Those tools could help Spurgin break another record and join the long line of history’s strongest men.

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A Centuries Old Test of Strength

In 2006, while riding his motorcycle, Spurgin was hit by an unmarked sheriff’s vehicle that turned through a four-way intersection, without seeing Spurgin. “I hit the truck so hard that it pulled the axle out of the truck,” he said.

The crash sent Spurgin over the truck and 60-feet down the road. He landed on his head and shoulder, damaging a nerve cluster. The visor of his motorcycle helmet popped off.

He spent two weeks in the hospital, repeating the same day over and over. He had suffered a massive concussion and each morning had to be told, again, what happened to him. He had shooting pain in his right arm and doctors couldn’t tell him what was wrong.

“My right arm was in a cast, but it wasn’t broken,” he said. “They didn’t know what to do with my arm.”

For more than a year, Spurgin and his family visited the best doctors in the country. Eventually, at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, doctors did exploratory surgery. Surgeons then transplanted Spurgin’s own leg muscle into his right arm, effectively turning his arm into a prosthetic, he told Patch.

Adrift in California, and eager to start his life anew, Spurgin and his then-girlfriend moved to the Columbus area. While his girlfriend started work as a designer, Spurgin was looking for a sense of direction. He wanted something familiar, so he wandered into a gym. It was a fateful decision that changed his life.

“I kind of just started working out to get something happening,” he said. “While I was at a gym, I ran into some people that were doing power lifting. Eventually I made it to a specialized gym and met a good friend that took me under his wing and turned me into a power lifter.”

Finding power-lifting was serendipitous. Columbus is one of the global hubs for body builders and weight lifters and strength competitors of all shapes and varieties. Spurgin’s newfound passion was accommodated better in Central Ohio than it might’ve been anywhere else in the nation.

“There is so much that happens in this city that is based there. There is a huge Olympic lifting community here. The Highland Games is prevalent throughout the state. Just the fact that I sort of progressed from weightlifting, working out, to…all of that, it happened because I was here,” he said.

Spurgin had purpose. “I felt like I was worth something again,” he said.

And that sense of worth has driven him to incredible heights, and weightlifting records. “I have [a record of] a little over 300 pounds total for the clean and jerk and snatch combined. My best snatch is 71 kilos. My best jerk is 76 kilos,” he said.

The next great feat of strength for Spurgin is a stone lift and carry — a test of strength that has vexed the planet’s strongest men for more than three centuries. For Spurgin, completing the stone lift and carry has become an existential necessity.

“I don’t know how to explain it. It’s a feat of strength that’s interlaced with my will and consciousness,” he said. “It’s basically my will to continue on and deal with pain as intertwined with physical strength and competition. It will just add that much more that I can endure and fight through.”

Making the Dream a Reality

To complete the stone lift and carry, Spurgin will need two arms. He currently has only one functional arm. He has asked the Challenge for America group to help him figure out a solution to this challenge.

Spurgin is one of six veterans asking the makers to devise a solution to a unique issue. Other veterans have asked for a device that will allow them to transfer themselves from a wheelchair to a handcycle; a device to help getting down to the floor, and back up again, so they can play with their child; assistive technology that would allow a veteran to control his devices so he can go back to school; a PTSD tech recipe for combating fear; and something that will allow a veteran to control his devices using only his voice or eyes.

Dallas Blaney, executive director for Challenge America, said his group received close to 20 applications for this year’s inaugural program. A committee of experts evaluated the applications, and their requests, for feasibility, marketability, and novel-ness and then selected six veterans. Spurgin and five other veterans were chosen.

“I think what we’re trying to do is complicated,” Blaney said. “There are multiple stages to it. At the end of the day, we want to create innovative products that improve the lives of injured veterans, helping them overcome a need.”

A kick-off event was held March 1, allowing doctors, students and engineers to meet with the six selected veterans. The participants were divided into six groups of “makers” who are tasked with actualizing the dreams of the veterans. The groups discussed the projects and possible solutions for the requests on March 1.

After the event, Blaney drove one of the veterans home. The veteran said the event was perfect.

“One of the things that was most meaningful for him was that people actually heard him,” Blaney said. “People sometimes listen but they don’t really hear him. The people [at the event] really heard him. He really appreciated that.”

In a little more than a month, the veterans and the makers will re-convene at St. Edward High. From April 25-27, engineers, students and doctors will work to create the devices that may help these veterans live smoother, better lives. Devices that could help people like Spurgin reach previously unattainable heights.

“The idea is to have individual teams plan out and execute the creation of devices they want to make here,” said Anthony Mortimer, of St. Ed’s. “It’s a three-day event and it’s around the clock. People are welcome to pull all-nighters.”

For James Spurgin, the chance to complete a two-armed stone lift and carry, a record-breaking feat, would further validate him and provide inspiration for others.

“How many other people can see this and see somebody like me do this and change their mindset? Other than the personal aspect, that’s something that keeps me going,” he said. “I want people to see it and know that it’s possible to do anything they want to do.”

He added: “All the people that have been around me and supported me and the people who have given me this opportunity — it’s awesome and I can’t wait to give back.”

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