Meet Tyler Zander, senior at Oklahoma State University where he is a member of Farmhouse fraternity. He’s just your average fraternity guy, except he’s hilarious, pre-med, a body builder, and oh yeah, only has one leg.
The summer before his freshman year of college, Tyler was working in a grain elevator outside of Enid, Oklahoma when disaster struck. The boards that had been covering the huge, corkscrew floor auger had broken, dragging his coworker into it. Seeing no other option, Tyler rushed to pull him from the auger and found himself trapped as well. For over an hour and a half he was trapped in the massive floor auger, waiting for paramedics to come and take him to OU Medical Center in OKC. Everytime I hear Tyler tell his story, he describes the auger as “splitting him in half like a wishbone.” Over thirty surgeries and 72 days later, he made it back home, but not without losing his entire right leg and nearly his life.
Tyler returned home after surgery weighing in at just 92 pounds. His doctors told him he’d never be able to walk without crutches again, as he was amputated from the hip. However, he dreamed of being a surgeon, and would not let his accident get in the way of that. Being in the best physical shape possible would be necessary in order to do that. Tyler trained as hard as he could, and now, thanks to hard work, he is able to not only walk on his prosthetic, but run. He weighs in at 160 pounds of pure muscle — with one leg.
Since his surgeries, Tyler has put his focus and faith in God. He gives motivational speeches at churches, schools, and youth groups, and volunteers at hospitals talking to new amputees to help them cope with the loss of their limbs.
Now, Tyler is competing in Men’s Health “Ultimate Guy” competition — and frankly, he is the ultimate guy. 10/10 would wife.
He’s fun.
He looks great in a suit.
And he can do this.
And this.
And this.
And I haven’t seen photographic evidence, but probably this.
Oh, and the whole future doctor thing if that wasn’t enough.
Friends say of Tyler:
I’ve never seen anyone in my entire life with a better outlook on life than Tyler. Now that over three and a half years half passed since his accident, its amazing to see just how far he has come. Amidst school, pledge program coordinator for Farmhouse Fraternity, Oklahoma State Chapter, and applying to medical school, he is the embodiment of hard work, persistence and faith.
Tyler is currently 14th on the leaderboard for Men’s Health. To vote for him, click here..
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Veronica Ruckh
Veronica (@VeronicaRuckh) is the Director of Total Sorority Move for Grandex, Inc. After having spent her undergraduate years drinking $4 double LITs on a patio and drunk texting away potential suitors, she managed to graduate with an impressive GPA and an unimpressive engagement ring -- so unimpressive, in fact, some might say it's not there at all. Veronica has since been fulfilling her duties as "America's big," a title she gave to herself with the help of her giant ego. She has recently switched from vodka to wine on weekdays. Email her at [email protected]
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