On the case: catastrophic nurse case manager Liz Zemke has an intimate understanding of what her patients need—she's been there herself. After losing

On a day that seemed like any other day, registered nurse Liz Zemke headed off to see patients at a rural California health clinic. A busy woman juggling a career and family, she was probably pondering the day's minutiae--reports to file, phone calls to return, dinner to make, dry cleaning to drop off, birthday cards to send.

But it wasn't a day like any other day. Around a blind curve on the mountain highway, a stranger's car careened into the wrong lane, headed straight for her. Life as she knew it was about to change forever.

The crash was head-on. Zemke suffered head trauma and severe damage to her right leg and ankle--her foot was nearly severed. She endured nearly two years of rehabilitation and painful surgeries. In the end, surgeons were able to rebuild her leg and knee, but the foot was beyond hope. Her choices were grim: Learn to live with the pain, doctors said, or amputate below the knee.

As wrenching as the decision was, Zemke chose amputation. Unable to walk out to her mailbox without pain, she knew, logically, that a prosthetic limb would help her regain the mobility she'd lost.