White Sox star helps Fla. student get new legs

Sometimes you just need a leg up in life, and no one knows that better than Tim Smith, a spiritual college student whose life was recently changed by the generosity of a professional baseball player he'd never met. According to the Tampa Tribune, Smith, a senior at Trinity College near Tampa, Fla., is, by and large, a normal 24-year old except he has no legs. A birth defect left Smith with legs that only extended to his knees, a deformity that has forced him to use prosthetic limbs since he was 18 months old. An adventurous, but often troubled kid, Smith lived his life mostly uninhibited by his disability, but eventually it got to the point where Smith's old pair which was held together by duct tape on its joint and corset sockets and Velcro straps wasn't cutting it anymore. However, as a college student with no insurance and a mountain of student loans, coming up with the 31,000 needed for a new state-of-the-art prosthesis wasn't happening either. Word of Smith's situation got out, and donations started pouring in. Some came from friends and neighbors, and others came from classmates and faculty at Trinity College, as well as the congregations at two different churches one in Port Richey, Fla., and another from Flanders, N.J. All told, the donations gave Smith 10,000 to put toward his new legs. But that still wasn't nearly enough. Then a Major League pitcher, one whom Smith had never met, came into his life and changed it forever. Chicago White Sox right-hander Gavin Floyd and his wife, Leanna, heard about Smith's situation through a relative, and after considering their options, the Floyds made the decision to donate the remaining 21,000 needed for Smith to get his new legs. "We talked about it, prayed about it, and just felt led to do it," Floyd told the Tribune. "To know what he's achieved in his life really moved us." Added Leanna: "God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams. He's put my husband and me in this position so we can help others. There is no better feeling than giving to someone else." The generous and unexpected donation came as a total shock to Smith. "I wish somebody was around to capture my emotions on camera, because I was ecstatic, I was in tears," Smith said. "I was so in love with God at that moment ... it just blew my heart away." With the Floyds' financial backing, Smith got his new legs, which are adorned with bengal tigers (as in the Trinity College mascot, not the mascot of Floyd's AL Central rivals in Detroit). And just last week, Smith finally got to meet the Floyds in person for the first time. Smith, whose favorite activities include rock climbing, mountain climbing, softball and Ultimate Frisbee, received a signed jersey and a glove from Floyd one he used to play catch with his new favorite player. And while some may still feel sorry for Smith, that's the last thing in the world Smith wants to hear. "People call this is a disability," he said. "I call it an ability to display the glory of God. He blessed me with this gift so I could see the goodness in people and in him. How lucky is that?"