Sumith Prasad
The third episode of ABC’s medical series ‘The Good Doctor’ season 6 follows Dr. Danica “Danni” Powell and her attending Dr. Alex Park’s attempts to save a girl. Upon conducting preliminary tests, they realize that the patient needs surgery, only for her father and mother to disagree over the same. To the confused mother, Powell recollects the memory of her father and mother disagreeing over the decision to amputate her leg. Powell then shows her artificial leg to the patient’s mother, making one wonder what really happened to the new resident’s leg. Well, let us provide the answer! SPOILERS AHEAD.
How Did Dr. Powell Lose Her Leg?
Before becoming a doctor, Dr. Powell was a US Navy Lieutenant. While she was in service, a flight deck accident occurred and her leg was badly hurt. She was in a coma for weeks. When it became necessary to decide whether or not to amputate her right leg, Powell’s parents disagreed with each other. Finally, her mother won the argument against her father and Powell underwent surgery to remove her right leg. Although she lost one of her legs, her determination and resilience led her to medical school for her to become a doctor.
Although Powell lost her leg in an unfortunate accident, she didn’t give up. She became a doctor and finds a place at St. Bonaventure Hospital beating the odds. As Powell finds her footing in the hospital despite losing one leg, the viewers must be wondering whether Savannah Welch, who plays Powell in the medical drama, had lost her leg as well. Let’s find out.
Did Savannah Welch Lose Her Leg in Real Life?
Yes, Savannah Welch did lose one of her legs in real life. In November 2016, Welch got into an accident at a farmers’ market in Wimberley, Texas. She was hit by a vehicle when she was standing by a store with her family members. She was airlifted from the scene to a hospital. Doctors didn’t have any other option but to amputate her right leg in front of them.
“The first day she [Savannah] swung over and put her foot on the ground and they asked what she wanted to do next and she said, ‘I want to stand up.’ It’s hard to keep a girl like that focused on the day, and only the day,” Savannah’s partner Jeff Burns told KXAN about the aftermath of the amputation. “Her life’s going to be different, our life’s going to be different, but it’s a new life and we’re going to make it great,” he added.
Since the amputation of her leg, Savannah has been trying her best to adapt to the change in her life with resilience. “The greatest challenge has been to accept and adjust my personal level of expectation of myself. It feels like I’m trapped in a body that can’t do all the things that I want to,” the actress told The Austin Chronicle. “I always felt like I was trying to talk myself into wanting to be here in life. It felt like this thing that I didn’t want to have to do. So, what shifted for me with the accident is not that I have to do it, it’s that I get to do it,” the actress added.
Dr. Powell isn’t the first time Savannah is playing a character with a disability. The actress portrays Barbara Gordon in the superhero series ‘Titans.’ When playing Barbara, Savannah was able to incorporate experiences from her own life into the character, something she seemingly does while portraying Powell as well. “I drew from my own experience of having limitations, having to rely on other people for help here and there, but also being very independent and deciding this is not going to limit my ability to do the things that I want to do in my life,” Savannah told W Magazine about portraying Barbara in ‘Titans.’
Read More: Is The Good Doctor’s Freddie Highmore Autistic in Real Life?
