The Force is strong with Brian Kleis.

Kleis, of Coralville, has gone through more medical procedures and emergencies than anyone ever should: diabetes, kidney failure, dialysis, kidney and pancreas transplants, gastroparesis and, ultimately, the amputation of his foot and about half of his lower right leg.

It all led to something new for Kleis: a "Star Wars"-themed prosthetic leg.

Covered in the classic "Star Wars" logo and famous space ships from the movie series — TIE fighters and ultimate weapon of the "Star Wars" universe: the Death Star — the prosthetic represents a change in attitude Kleis had in the middle of all his medical plights.

"There's an awful lot more positives to come of my new leg, I can't think of single negative actually," Kleis said sitting in the eastern Iowa City office of American Prosthetics & Orthotics.

The prosthetic, made special by those at American Prosethetics, will last him about 8 to 12 months, Morgan said, accounting for the changes to the musculature of his right leg.

"If it's only going to last a year, why not have a little fun with it? Play around with it and enjoy it. It's a part of my attitude towards life now," Kleis said.

Surrounded by two men from American Prosthetics who helped make the new leg, certified prosthetic-orthotist Brent Morgan and Ryan Schuetzle, Kleis looked at his "Star Wars" prosthetic leg with pride last week, recounting his arduous journey of medical emergencies and mental anguish.

"Why dwell on the crap that life has given you?" Kleis said.

Kleis was a kid when he was first diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Now in his 40s, diabetes was a part of his childhood as much as the Star Wars movie franchise. Growing up with "all the 'Star Wars' toys," Kleis said, "Star Wars has been a part of my life since I can remember."

Born and raised in Maquoketa, Kleis grew up a Star Wars fan, got a job as a database manager at Bank of the West and moved out to California. Medical issues followed, though. He suffered from gastroparesis — a condition that means one's stomach doesn't empty properly — from 2005 to 2007.

After getting a kidney transplant, those kidneys gave out in 2007, Kleis said, meaning dialysis and using a walker for over a year. In 2009, Kleis had a kidney and pancreas transplant. The kidneys stopped working and he was back on dialysis just 18 months later. The new pancreas, however, meant he wasn't diabetic anymore.

"Every week, I was in the ER," Kleis said. He estimated 120 emergency room visits over those two years. "I was tired, I was really, really tired. It became my life. I was very depressed, it was 'woe is me' and 'my life sucks.' "

Kleis said he turned an emotional corner in 2010. Going through dialysis, he said he was sitting next to a woman who was going through dialysis and chemotherapy at the same time.

"I've got it easy compared to everyone around me," Kleis said. "What the hell do I have to complain about?"

He moved to the Iowa City area in 2012, now closer to where his parents lived in Cedar Rapids. Another kidney was available in Nov. of 2014. The kidney took, but the transplant ruined the pancreas. Diabetes came back into Kleis' life, he said.

While in the hospital, Kleis suffered a small cut on his right foot. It was taken care of at the hospital and seemed like nothing. Three weeks later, the cut was back. Three days after that, his foot was turning gray.

Then, three hours later, two toes and a chunk of his foot were cut off at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to stop the spread of the infection.

At a check-up appointment on Feb. 16, the doctors at the UIHC gave him an option. The infection hadn't been totally removed and had spread to all the bones in his foot. They could amputate the foot, monitor the leg and hope it didn't spread.

"Or, they told me, you can choose where we know there is no infection and amputate and you could start the healing process and never have to deal with this again," Kleis said.

"It was the quickest answer I've ever had to give."

Kleis decided to amputate part of his leg, but not without some guidance first. Morgan, who Kleis had loosely known through First Presbyterian Church, was at UIHC that day.

"All of a sudden, I get a floor call. The call was 'please come consult a patient on possible amputation.' I recognized his name," Morgan said. "Maybe it was helpful to have someone you knew."

On Feb. 25, the amputation was made. Morgan and Schuetzle then went to work building the new leg prosthetic. The two mostly work on people who have lost limbs during motor-vehicle and farming accidents as well as diabetes patients.

Both agreed that Kleis had a rare confluence of events that brought him to them.

"A lot of the people we help are not as motivated as Brian," Schuetzle said. Kleis would meet with Morgan and Schuetzle, try on a prosthetic leg, walk around a bit and the two experts would take notes, measurements and go back to work.

"Every time I met with them, it wasn't like having to go to the doctor, it was like 'I get to go see Ryan and Brent again,' " Kleis said.

The prosthetic required some work on Kleis's part. He had to go find the Star Wars design he wanted for his new leg. After serious time spent at a fabric store, he found the desired design and took it to Morgan and Schuetzle.

There's a video on Schuetzle's iPhone from April 27 in UIHC, the day Kleis got his "Star Wars" prosthetic leg. It shows Shcuetzle holding out the leg in front of him and walking it into Kleis' hospital room as music from "Star Wars," "The Imperial March," is played. The camera turns a corner and shows Kleis in utter awe.

Even today, watching the video gets Kleis to smile wide.

"This leg has given me so much," Kleis said. "It's given me more than any illness or condition has taken away from me."

In the immediate days after receiving the new leg, Kleis said he would walk for miles and miles around town in order to learn and appreciate the new leg.

"I'm not the person I was before, but I'm so much stronger than I was before," he said.

With the new "Star Wars" movie coming out this week, Kleis is excited for one of his favorite stories to continue its newest chapter. But there's a deeper connection to the movies that most fans can never relate to.

"Removing a limb was not foreign to a Darth Vader or a Luke Skywalker," Kleis said.

Vader, the black mask-wearing villain of the first three "Star Wars" movies lost both legs and arms in the prequel Star Wars movies that came out in the 1990s and 2000s. Luke Skywalker, the protagonist of the first three movies, lost his hand in a lightsaber duel with Vader.

"They both recovered and were pretty bad ass afterwards," Kleis said. "Why can't I?"


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