Loignon, a design assistant at Pratt & Whitney in North Berwick, Maine, was on his way to work about 7:30 a.m. on June 25, 2001, when he was struck by another vehicle driven by a teen-ager who fell asleep at the wheel.

The accident shattered Loignon’s left thigh bone and damaged his spleen. Rescue crews worked for two hours to extricate him from the vehicle and take him to the hospital.

Loignon, 39, was kept in a drug-induced coma for five weeks as doctors struggled to keep him alive. They were forced to amputate both legs just above the knee to save his life.

His sister, Maureen Fecteau, wrote on a Web site how family members were anxiously watching over his condition.

"We stood by helplessly day after day as more and more of his body was cut away for the sake of keeping him alive. We prayed for his life, prayed for the nightmare to stop, and prayed for his resiliency if he managed, after all, to live through this," she wrote.

When he woke up, Loignon said he was not upset his legs had been amputated and that he was happy to be alive.

"I could not believe I had survived such a thing. I was very grateful to everyone who participated in saving my life," he said.

Loignon said he was also not upset with the driver of the other vehicle. "It was an accident," he said.

Loignon spent four months in the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland, Maine, recovering from the accident.

"I went through a lot of frustration and uncertainty about what my future was going to be like," he said.

"Without being able to eat properly and exercise properly, my energy level was down and I was pretty depressed," he said. "But I would always come back to thinking that I was so fortunate. There could have been many other things wrong with me — more dismemberment, brain damage. I could have been dead."

Luckily, he had his wife, Peggy, and his sisters Maureen and Gail to lean on during the rehabilitation process.

"After four months in rehab, I was really anxious to get out of there and get my life started again," he added.

Loignon said it was at least six months before he started feeling better, though he still felt a lot of pain in his back and limbs.

He said the hardest part about adjusting to life with his disability was "my mind working faster than my body."

"I always wanted things done at the rate I could get them done before, but from a wheelchair that was a little tough and it still is," he said.

Loignon received a pair of hydraulic legs. His initial set, which he used during the first six months, was about two feet shorter than his natural height. They are used to gain back strength and balance.

The second set brought him back to his regular height and allowed him to walk more naturally.

Since March, he has been wearing computerized legs called C-Legs, which are manufactured by a German company named Ottobock.

These legs allow him to climb stairs as well as sit and stand more naturally.

"The C-Leg is very incredible. It’s changing lives," he said. "They have processors in both knees that sense motion, weight change, weight shift (and) speed change. They look a lot better than the other ones."

He also works out three times a week at 5:30 a.m. at the Sanford-Springvale YMCA to gain his strength back.

"I lost all my body muscle being unconscious for five weeks. It’s been a long road getting my strength back," he said.

Loignon said he has gradually been able to regain more mobility. On Tuesday, he walked through the cafeteria at work for the first time since the accident.

"People are happy for me. I can see it in their eyes and I can hear it in their voices," he said.

Loignon said he really had no "blueprint" for his life after the accident. He returned to work and college several months later. Loignon is a 1981 graduate of Sanford High School and had been continuing his studies at Daniel Webster.

He said Pratt & Whitney has been very supportive of him. The company added a support bar to his cubicle to help him stand, put in extra powered doors throughout the facility, made a couple of the bathrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and gave him a reserved parking spot.

Loignon said he hopes the degree he is receiving will allow him to be promoted to a project engineering position.

Loignon said once he was able to recover, he wanted to help others.

"I realized that while I was in rehab, the rehab process concentrated on the physical and not the psychological and I really wanted to help out in that process," he said.

Loignon said friends created the Web site used to update people on his condition while he was in the hospital.

He decided to transform this site into a center where people with disabilities can read about others in the same situation.

The Web site is called "Stepping Back into Life" and was officially launched in September. It can be accessed at www.loignon.org

Loignon said the site contains "incredible stories of incredible people doing incredible things." He said he would eventually like to have 100 stories on the site.

The site also contains links to other articles and information about people with disabilities.

"There aren’t many success stories out there for the disabled," he said. "If I can help another person walk that doesn’t have the resources, then it will be pretty gratifying."

"My big goal is to have ‘Stepping Back Into Life’ nationally known, respected and utilized," he added.

Already, he has gotten many responses to his site from places as far away as Vietnam.

Loignon said he has been corresponding with a man from Vietnam to tell him how to find a prosthetic limb.

He also reprints material about people with disabilities on the Web site with permission from the author.

Helpful.com, a Web company based in Saco, Maine, helped design the site. Company President Susan Merrow also serves as the vice president of Loignon’s endeavor.

Loignon would also like to set up a nonprofit endowment and give out scholarships to people with physical disabilities.

He said he is also working to fight more insurance coverage of prosthetics. He is lobbying for a bill in the Maine Legislature to increase coverage of prosthetic limbs.

Right now, there is only $10,000 worth of coverage. Prosthetics often cost several thousand dollars more.

Loignon also has other interests beyond the Web site. He owns a small brewery called Shapleigh Hops Craft Brewing that he operates on Saturdays. He is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox. He also likes gardening, camping and spending time with his family and friends.

"I haven’t stopped anything. I’m doing what I did before," he said. Loignon is getting stronger with his walking on a daily basis. He has been driving for more than a year and brings his wheelchair, which he sets up himself.

"I kind of surprise myself in very short periods of time on what I can do and what I can’t do and there isn’t much I can’t do," he said. "My goal is to get as far away from my wheelchair as I can, although I realize my wheelchair will still be a small part of my life."

Loignon said he has to be very selective on where he walks and he usually has to plan out his schedule ahead of time before goings to stores and restaurants.

He said city and town governments need to take a closer look at providing accessibility in public buildings.

Loignon also said people should be more sensitive to the needs of the disabled.

"A lot of it is common sense. People need to think about how they want to be treated in a situation like mine or someone else’s with a disability," he said.

His advice for other people going through his situation is "set goals, respect the people that are supporting you, be patient with your goals and never sell yourself short."

On the web: Steve Loignon's website: http://www.loignon.com