Rusty Leech doesn’t remember much about his all-terrain vehicle accident nine years ago near Rifle ... except one thing.

“I knew I was paralyzed,” said Rusty, 50, several weeks ago while sitting at his dining room table with his wife, Kathy.

“I got done rolling the four-wheeler, opened my eyes, and my legs were above my head. I reached up to touch my legs, and I couldn’t feel them,” he said.

The Grand Junction man was an avid runner and hunter. He longs for walks through the woods on fall hunts.

He still hunts from his wheelchair, but must wait for big game to walk by. It’s not the same, said Leech, who works at Xcel’s Cameo Generating Station.

Rusty and Kathy raised two daughters, but they still operate like they have a newborn, waking up three times a night.

Instead of feeding a baby, Rusty uses the bathroom and changes positions, with Kathy’s help, to avoid bed sores or pressure sores.

What he wants more than anything is to go to the bathroom without a catheter.

“That’s the No. 1 issue, to have bowel and bladder control,” Rusty said. “I can deal with not being able to move my legs, but if I could just know I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be happy.”

Kathy and Rusty used to go out to eat more often, but getting Rusty in and out of their Toyota 4-Runner became more of a production than peeling carrots or potatoes.

“We hardly go out to dinner, ever,” Kathy said. “It’s work. It’s easier to cook.”

For nine years, Rusty has ridden a roller coaster of emotions — happiness, anger, joy, depression, jealousy and thankfulness.

“You hope something is there, but you have to stay grounded,” Rusty said. “You have to say maybe, but maybe not. ... You have to hope somebody will come up with something sometime.”

When he read an article by Dr. S. Laurance Johnston in August’s Paraplegia News magazine about the potential of the embryonic stem cell therapy being conducted by Dr. Geeta Shroff, an Indian infertility expert, Rusty saw hope.

Incidentally, Kathy had heard Shroff’s name mentioned in connection with a Basalt woman.

Amanda Boxtel, 39, sustained a complete injury to her thoracic 11 and 12 vertebrae in a 1992 skiing accident. She is a paraplegic.

Rusty and Kathy read Amanda’s blog, www.amandaboxtel.wordpress.com, which detailed her positive responses to Shroff’s therapy. The Leeches met Amanda earlier this year.

“Because we knew Amanda, and her level of injury, we knew what she couldn’t do,” Kathy said.

While visiting Amanda, the Leeches watched her crawl forward and backward.

“I can push myself up and drag my legs around, but I can’t pick up my knees,” Rusty said. “She crawled around forward and backward, and that right there was pretty mind-blowing.”

“She lay down on her back and lifted one leg over the other,” Kathy said. “We know you can’t do that. When she crawled backward, we saw her hip lift up and move back.”

“I was like, ‘where do I sign up?’” Rusty said.

Amanda was the first U.S. citizen to receive treatment at Shroff’s Nu Tech Mediworld clinic in Delhi, India.

She will return next year for a follow-up appointment. So far, her body has responded well to the first round of treatments, Amanda said.

Shroff hasn’t publicized her procedures because she is seeking a patent for her therapy in 126 countries, including the United States, Rusty said.

“I’m the proud owner of hamstrings, toes on both feet that wiggle every so slightly and the beginnings of my bladder and bowel functions,” Amanda said. “The reason they send you home and give you a break is because a percentage of stem cells die off and a percentage of them take. It takes a period of time for them to gestate in your body. I’ll continue to see improvement and strength.”

A large percentage of a child’s growth and development is in the first 5 years, so embryonic stem cells follow the same type of development time line.

“Am I going to walk again?” Amanda said. “I don’t know. Am I attached to that outcome? No. It’s not an overnight miracle cure. It takes a lot of hard work, but why should I deny myself the possibility of walking again?”

Leslie Hanks, vice president of Colorado Right to Life, said she has “empathy and sympathy” for victims of spinal cord injuries who want to regain feeling and movement after accidents left them paralyzed. But she does not condone the destruction of human life to achieve that outcome through embryonic stem cell research and therapy.

Shroff used a human embryo to create her stem cell lines and therapy. Rusty will receive stem cells developed from the same human embryo from which Amanda received cells.

Like Hanks, Amanda believes life begins at conception, but she argued that the embryo used by Shroff would have been discarded had it not been used for research that has changed lives.

Shroff’s work has helped an estimated 300 people, according to Johnston’s article.

“I know human embryonic stem cells have the capability to do what is God-given,” Amanda said. “I see it as life giving life. I would hope people wouldn’t judge me for my choice. I don’t judge other people for the choices they made…. I have to accept that they are human embryonic stem cells. I’m feeling great.”

Rusty left Monday for India and Shroff’s clinic. He expects to be there until early February. Follow-up appointments will be made depending on how he responds to initial treatments.

“(Shroff is) looking at four to six trips over two years to complete this therapy,” Rusty said.

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Melinda Mawdsley can be reached via e-mail at mmawdsley@gjds.com.