WOODLAND PARK ” There was the horror of the crash. The multiple surgeries and the searing pain. And, finally, the decision to amputate his right leg.

Yet, out of pain and fear and loss, 19-year-old Luke Myers has found blessings. The loss of his leg five years ago resulted in new friends, a new career choice and a can-do attitude that will fuel him as he bicycles across America this summer with fellow amputees.

If he could somehow go back in time, if he could regain his leg, he’s not sure he would.

“I think the accident, it was a good thing that it happened,” says Luke, who lives with his family near Florissant. “So many good things came out of it.”

The crash happened on a January afternoon in 2002. Bethany, Luke’s older sister, was driving Luke and brother Ethan, then 9, home from school in Woodland Park when a car coming the opposite way on U.S. Highway 24 crossed into their lane and slammed into them head-on. Bethany, who suffered a broken collarbone and a concussion, was released from the hospital that night. But Luke and Ethan were in the hospital for months ” Ethan with a severe head injury and Luke with a head laceration and fractures in both legs.

Luke’s right leg was particularly mangled. Doctors worked to save it for more than a year. But after more than a dozen surgeries and the pain of recurring infections, Luke told doctors to amputate.

In a way, Luke says, it was a relief. But depression and anger and the question “why me?” accompanied the loss of his leg.

“I didn’t think my life would be over,” he says. “I just thought I wouldn’t be able to do the things that I did before.”

Just weeks after Luke lost his leg in 2003, he attended a local reception for Amputees Across America, three amputees biking across the country.

“You see these guys riding in and you just get the attitude, if they’re able to do that, so can you,” Luke says. “It just kind of gives you that extra boost of confidence in yourself, that positive attitude, which can help you push through losing a leg.”

It was a group he soon yearned to join. So the next year, 2004, and every year since, he has been a “junior ambassador” with Amputees Across America, joining the bikers for a section of the trek and reaching out to young amputees during stops at rehabilitation hospitals. This year, he will be a full-fledged rider. The journey began June 1 in Tustin, Calif., and ends Aug. 8 in New Jersey.

The group covers about 150 miles most days, with each rider going 50 miles or so. The focus, Luke says, isn’t the ride or proving you can make it from one end of the country to the other under your own power. Instead, it’s about helping and inspiring others during stops at rehabilitation facilities along the way.

Sometimes, though, it is the riders who gain inspiration. Luke recalls visiting a Shriners hospital in Salt Lake City with Amputees Across America. There was a young boy playing video games and having the time of his life despite the loss of both arms.

“I thought I was bad off before I did this,” Luke says. “Then you see people worse off than you who are not having any trouble with their daily lives.”

Luke has forged friendships with his fellow riders, who are typically much older than Luke. This year’s group includes Abel Cruz, 56, who had an above-the-knee amputation after an accident in 2005, and AJ Johnson, 31, whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2003 because of injuries from a car crash; she lost the other leg this year. Founder Joe Sapere, 67, a retired Air Force officer from Virginia who lost his leg in a skydiving accident in 2000, will be along for part of the trip.

Sapere met Luke during the group’s stop in Colorado Springs in 2003.

“He was very shy and withdrawn,” Sapere remembers. Though Luke was acknowledged as a recent amputee during the welcome ceremony, “he wouldn’t even stand up and say thank you or whatever.”

Luke wore long pants that day, hiding his prosthetic leg. But the next day, at an Amputees Across America skydiving demonstration in Calhan, Luke wore shorts.

“You could see the lights go on in his head,” Sapere says. “He saw these three guys, grown-ups, amputees, just acting like everybody else. I think that was a big turning point for Luke.”

Since then, Sapere says, Luke has grown into a confident young man who holds his own in the kidding around that apparently is a hallmark of the group.

“He shaves his legs so we can’t pull the hair on back of his legs while he’s talking,” Sapere says.

Before the crash, Luke had thought of going into the Army. Now he plans to become a prosthetist, someone who designs, creates and fits artificial limbs. He apprenticed last summer with his prosthetist, Dave Nadler of Colorado Orthotic and Prosthetic Services, and will go to college this fall in Spokane, Wash.

“I kind of feel that I have a gift already because I can relate to people, other amputees, a little bit better than a guy on two legs who is saying what is best for you as an amputee,” Luke says.

Nadler, who met Luke when he was on the operating table awaiting amputation, was struck by Luke’s good spirits then. He has never seen the “why me” side of Luke, he says. But he has seen Luke’s confidence and comfort in counseling fellow amputees soar.

As for Luke’s career choice, “he definitely has talent in the field,” Nadler says. “I’d love to have him as part of our team once he’s done with school.”

Luke enjoys typical teen pursuits ” “mostly just hanging out with friends, trying to enjoy the rest of my kid years before going out into the real world.” He’s also a volunteer with Florissant Fire and Rescue.

“He really feels it’s his duty to give back to the community,” says his mother, Emma Myers.

Luke’s struggles and his journeys with Amputees Across America, she says, have helped him focus on others rather than himself.

“Which is good, because I think that what he went through, if he focused on himself, I think it’d be pretty easy to become bitter.”

For Luke, attaching his leg each morning is like slipping on shoes. Sometimes, he’ll have phantom sensations in his missing leg. “The foot itches, can’t really do anything about it,” he says.

Posters of his fellow bikers and news articles on amputees adorn the walls of his bedroom. If he starts feeling down, he says, he just looks at the posters for a dose of inspiration.

“It’s all about the attitude.”