Woody Woodson has played with the likes of the Temptations, the Four Tops and the Supremes, but after he lost his leg to diabetes, he thought he could never play the drums again.
He's been living in the same Northeast D.C. two-story home for years, which has gotten particularly tough to navigate with just one leg. He's been unable to work, and has been getting by on the few royalty checks he still gets.
“I recorded with Otis [Redding] and got two albums at the Whiskey a Go Go,” he said. “I should get some money somewhere.”
That was until News4 viewer Judy Anderson stepped in to help Woodson, 73.
"I thought maybe we could get him in here and we did. He's here with us and we love him!" Anderson, who works as a nurse at Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital of Maryland, said.
Woodson's doctors say his progress so far has been nothing short of phenomenal.
"I have the expectation and vision that Woody has, that he'll play the drums again and he'll do it very well, if not better than he did in the past," Dr. Terrence Sheehan said.
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Woodson is still working to build up enough strength to walk with the new prosthetic, but believes a time will come for him to play music again.
"I don't think I've wanted anything more," Woodson said. "I wanna do it more not for myself but for them... I like to think of it that way. I never had a dream in my life that this would have happened to me. I'm thankful. Every moment I'm thankful."
He's formed a special friendship with everyone at the hospital, especially Anderson, who wholeheartedly believes Woodson will be back at the drum set in no time.
"He's driven, we've seen him coming up and down the stairs, he worked out that bike... I know he'll be able to do it," Anderson said.
