Washington

Her kidney stone was infected. She’ll lose her legs and arms to survive.

Published

2 years ago

January 5, 2024

Her kidney stone was infected. She’ll lose her legs and arms to survive.

Lucinda Mullins lay on her Kentucky home’s bathroom floor last month in excruciating pain from a kidney stone. She was vomiting and had developed a fever and back pain, so she yelled for her husband, DJ, to help.

Mullins went to a hospital. Weeks later, she would be a quadruple amputee.

Her kidney stone had become infected and caused sepsis, the immune system’s extreme attempt to fight an infection, which can cause organ failure and death. Doctors gave Mullins medication that sent all her blood flowing to her organs — and restricted it from her less vital arteries in her legs and arms.

After more than a week of treatment, doctors told Mullins that her key organs were healthy. But there was another problem: The tissue in her legs and forearms had died and parts of the limbs needed to be amputated.

“If that was the sacrifice that I had to make to be alive,” Mullins, 41, told The Washington Post, “I was okay with it.”

Mullins’s legs were amputated from above her knees last month, and she began physical therapy on Tuesday to prepare for prostheses. She said everything below her elbows will be amputated near the end of January.

Doctors “give you that rare chance of something bad happening … but I would have never dreamed [of this],” Mullins said.

Mehdi Shishehbor, the president of an Ohio hospital’s heart and vascular institute, said that kidney stone infections rarely lead to amputations. Some patients are treated and cured of sepsis — which can result from many illnesses and infections — with antibiotics, he said.

However, Shishehbor said that amputations are a better outcome than many of his sepsis patients experience. Nearly 270,000 people in the United States die of sepsis annually, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“Saving the life is more important than losing a limb,” Shishehbor said, “even though nobody wants to lose a limb.”

Mullins said she was diagnosed with kidney stones just over a year ago.

A urologist removed a stone in her left kidney in October, but the stone in her right kidney didn’t require immediate surgery, Mullins said. The urologist gave her a stent, a small plastic tube that helps urine move from the kidney to the bladder, in hopes of making it easier to eventually remove the stone, Mullins said.

After she took out the stent a few days later, Mullins said she felt sick. DJ drove her to Ephraim McDowell Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford, Ky., where Mullins answered doctors’ questions before she started to feel lightheaded — a sepsis symptom.

Sepsis nearly killed me. This is what it was like.

Mullins’s blood pressure was low, and a CT scan showed that her kidney stone was infected and her organs were failing. A few hours later, she was taken by ambulance to a UK HealthCare hospital in Lexington, Ky.

Doctors there placed Mullins on a ventilator and gave her dialysis, which removes excess water and toxins from blood when the kidneys are not working. Mullins was sedated for about a week while doctors treated her and tried to save her legs with an unsuccessful fasciotomy — a procedure to restore blood flow to dying tissue. Mullins doesn’t remember much from that week, but she said her family members — who made T-shirts that said #LucindaStrong — were scared she was going to die.

On Dec. 18, Mullins was laying in her bed when she asked a doctor to not sugarcoat her situation. He said that she needed amputations but would live.

On Dec. 19, Mullins went into surgery and awoke about five hours later without legs. The following day, Mullins said she cried when she saw her sons — 12-year-old Teegan and 7-year-old Easton — for the first time in nearly two weeks.

Mullins said she’s typically independent, but for a few days after surgery, DJ carried her around the hospital and fed her. Her twin sister, Luci, helped Mullins bathe in what they called “spa day.” Easton brushed his mom’s hair and applied her lip balm. She soon learned to use a wheelchair.

About a week after her amputation, Mullins said she went into surgery to remove the kidney stone. She feared something would go wrong, causing more health problems, but the procedure went smoothly. She and DJ couldn’t believe such a small mass had created so many problems.

On Monday, Mullins was transferred to Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington. She’s strengthening her core, practicing moving from her bed to her wheelchair and stretching what remains of her legs and arms. Her hands, which she said “shriveled up” after the blood flow never returned, will be amputated later this month.

In about four months, Mullins said she plans to add prostheses for her upper and lower body. She hopes to eventually return as a nurse at an OB/GYN practice in Stanford.

Mullins’s friend created an online fundraiser to help pay for an elevator, a walk-in shower and other renovations for Mullins’s house. She’s scheduled for more surgeries and rehab over the next few months, but she said she’s looking forward to eventually returning home and seeing her sons every day.

“[I’ve learned] not to take my time or my family or my friends or anything for granted,” Mullins said.

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Washington

Report: Arizona football to hire Washington’s Aaron Knotts as general manager

Published

48 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Report: Arizona football to hire Washington’s Aaron Knotts as general manager

Arizona is closing in on its next general manager.

The UA is set to hire Aaron Knotts as GM, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Knotts has spent the last 12 years at Washington, where he most recently served as Director of Internal Operations and Football Strategy. Knotts previously worked as Chief of Staff and Associate Athletic Director at UW.

As general manager, Knotts will be tasked with managing Arizona’s roster through player retention, the transfer portal and high school recruiting.

Arizona’s front office is undergoing a shakeup after former GM Gaizka Crowley left for the same position at Arkansas. Crowley and Director of Scouting Fletcher Kelly played a big role in building Arizona’s roster in the first two years under Brent Brennan. Kelly is expected to follow Crowley to Arkansas, according to Jason Scheer of Wildcat Authority.

Knotts began his coaching career as a tight ends coach at Division III Centre College (Ky.) before joining Chris Petersen’s staff at UW in the fall of 2014. Prior to working in operations and administration, Knotts served in various recruiting and personnel roles at UW.

Knotts was promoted to Associate Athletic Director/Chief of Staff in 2024. In his role as Associate Athletic Director, Knotts part of a three-person search committee for UW’s head football coach in 2024, which resulted in the Huskies hiring Jedd Fisch from Arizona.

Now Knotts in departing Fisch’s UW program to run Arizona’s front office.

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Washington

Washington Capitals 2025-26 W Magazine Now Available | Washington Capitals

Published

2 days ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Washington Capitals 2025-26 W Magazine Now Available | Washington Capitals

Arlington, Va. – W Magazine, a lifestyle publication produced by the Washington Capitals, is now available for purchase online at www.washcaps.com/wmagazine and at the Team Store at Capital One Arena and at the Team Store at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. The fan-favorite magazine, which features content surrounding every Capitals player along with hundreds of personal, never-before-seen family photos, is available for $8 plus shipping. In addition, season ticket members will receive a complimentary issue, with copies for season ticket members available at the Planholder Hub on the 100-level concourse during Capitals home games.

The cover story, written by Capitals senior writer Mike Vogel, goes in-depth with forward Pierre-Luc Dubois. Vogel speaks with Dubois, his teammates and family members for an extensive feature on the phone call that changed Dubois’ life and shaped his future with the Capitals franchise. Spanning more than 200 pages, W offers exclusive photography of Capitals players and their families, along with lifestyle content and interviews with every member of the 2025-26 roster. Highlights include:

John Carlson on fishing in Maryland with his sons
Brandon Duhaime on spearfishing and his related YouTube channel
Ryan Leonard on moving to D.C. and living with the Dubois family
Charlie Lindgren on his first offseason as a dad
Alex Ovechkin on celebrating back home after becoming the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer
Logan Thompson on his love of dogs
Trevor van Riemsdyk on pop-a-shot and pickleball

The magazine also features an in-depth look at the Capital One Arena transformation project, including exclusive photos, insights into future phases and Capitals player reactions to the new Capitals locker room complex. A special interview with Monumental Sports Network’s Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin reflects on the historic 50th anniversary season, while a day-in-the-life piece with Caps Radio’s John Walton and Katie Florio brings readers behind-the-scenes of a home game radio broadcast.

Additional features include a look at a regular day for former Capitals service dog in training Biscuit – now a facility dog at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center – and a photographic recap of Alex Ovechkin’s historic 2024-25 season. A new “Beyond the Boards” section spotlights community stories, while the fan-favorite “Short Shifts” section returns with Capitals players sharing thoughts on topics such as the best singer on the team, funniest teammate, personal goals beyond hockey, what everyone should try at least once, their ideal entrance theme song and more.

The magazine also profiles members of the Capitals Black Hockey Committee and introduces fans to the team driving the organization’s youth hockey initiatives.

W design services were provided by Matt Ryan. Player photography was provided by Greg Powers with assistance from Damon Banks. The cover featuring Pierre-Luc Dubois was photographed on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., with the assistance of captains and crew from City Cruises. Players were photographed for the publication at Origin in Arlington, Va.

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Washington

Ginger’s Journey: Walking from Washington State to Washington, D.C.

Published

2 days ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Ginger’s Journey: Walking from Washington State to Washington, D.C.

Imagine setting out, on foot, for a journey not knowing how long it would take. Now imagine doing it with two animals as traveling partners from Washington State to Washington, D.C.

“Now I’ve started this leg of the journey in Morton, Washington where I was spiritually requested to go to Washington, D.C. and sing the song ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon on the Capitol steps,” says Jacob Holiday.

Jacob Holiday is on his way across America so he can sing a song he says signifies peace in the hopes, he says, of ending violence everywhere.

“I want so much peace. Cops would no longer carry firearms. We’re going to send the militaries of every country, I don’t care which one you’re talking about but every country, home to go to sleep. I don’t care what they do. But I want all this violence, everything, all this violence to stop.”

He has two wagons and his traveling companions are a dog and a goat. Holiday started in Washington State in July and he’s not worried about how long his hike across America will take.

His multi-state trek has seen him encounter a lot along the way, including a run-in with a bear.

He carries food for himself and his dog and his goat on carts that he says weigh a couple hundred pounds. Besides necessities, Holiday has one thing he’d greatly appreciate receive being able to buy as he continues his mission.

Holiday says he knows his mission isn’t an easy one, and he uses it as a metaphor for life as a whole.

We caught up with Holiday in the early part of November on a 70-degree day in Cambridge, Nebraska then spoke to him again a few days later in the rain as he headed east on Highways 6 and 34, so no telling how far he’s gotten now.

After we met with Holiday, we did notify the local sheriff to perform a welfare check, but we’re told Holiday wanted to continue his walk with his Capitol Steps goal still ahead of him. We also offered him food for himself and his animals, which he declined saying he had enough food on his carts.

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