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the baby’s body causing injury. This condition is usually
diagnosed during a prenatal ultrasound, giving the parents
time to prepare themselves before birth. In Evan’s case,
however, the diagnosis was missed and was quite a shock
to his parents.
“Initially, we were devastated,” explained Wendi, “It was
just such a shock to us, and we were worried about what his
future held.” Wendi admits that she really struggled the
first year of Evan’s life, mourning her expectations of what
“normal” would look like for her son. But she continually
prayed over him and eventually found some Facebook
support groups where other moms whose children shared
similar conditions helped her see that Evan could not only
survive this challenge, but could thrive with only one hand.
“We decided early on that we would not let him feel sorry
for himself,” said Wendi. “We don’t even call it a disability.
We call it a limb difference. He is not disabled at all. He
can do anything and everything other kids can do, he just
has to do it in a different way.”
Sometimes figuring out that “different way” was
incredibly frustrating for Evan and his parents. “There were
times I would see him struggle to learn how to do something
new, and I mean, really struggle, but I never let him see me
upset about it. Of course as a mom, it broke my heart to
seem him struggle or hurting or to watch as he had to fight
for what came easy to other kids. But if I was upset, I would
go in another room to process those emotions, and would
come back out when I was ready to encourage him to keep
working. We always told him to get back up and try again.
Keep trying until you figure out what works.”
That strategy has paid off immensely as Evan now
successfully plays many sports, plays guitar, and even rides
dirt bikes with his younger brother, Drew. He uses a special
prosthetic for a few select activities. His dirt bike prosthetic
is specifically designed to release if he loses control or has
an accident, so he is not trapped in a dangerous situation.
However, he mostly just makes due with his “little arm” as
his family calls it. The prosthetics feel heavy and bulky and
he has learned to accomplish daily tasks without one. And
while archery may seem like one of those tasks that Evan
would require a prosthetic, Evan simply learned to shoot
without his right arm entirely.
About two years ago, Wes Teten saw some videos
online of one-handed archers shooting the way Evan has
learned to shoot–with his mouth. He showed the videos
to Evan and they got excited to try something new. Wes
designed all the mouthpieces that Evan uses to pull back
his bowstring and, simply through trial and error, they
eventually came up with a design that was a perfect fit.
Evan then joined the Discovery Christian School archery
team, where he is a student and Wendi is the head of
school. Coach Dennis Adams, the owner and head coach
of Mississippi Archery Academy is also the head archery
coach at Discovery Christian School. Coach Adams has
worked with Evan from the beginning and taught him to
“pick his spot” and aim just like all the rest of his archery
students. Coach Adams believes that archery is the most
inclusive sport there is because it doesn’t take special
athletic ability or skill to be good. It only takes practice,
and Evan has been successful because he loves the sport
and works hard at what he does. Evan loves archery so much
that he is beginning to train in Olympic style shooting
and hopes to compete in archery professionally one day.
It is obvious that Wes and Wendi’s strategy of raising
Even to not feel sorry for himself has been successful. Evan
is a happy, confident kid with a big heart and a great attitude.
Clearly, there is no bitterness or self-pity regarding his limb
difference, and he has figured out that God allowed this
in his life for a reason. Some people have even tried to tell
Evan that one day in Heaven he will be “fixed” and will
have both his hands. But Wendi insists that is the wrong
way to look at it. “That implies that something is wrong
with him,” she explained, “And that really isn’t the case.
He’s perfect just the way he is. He can do anything he puts
his mind to.” Evan even says that he likes his “little arm”
so much that he hopes God lets him keep it in Heaven.
Although COVID-19 changed the way archery
competitions were held this school year, Evan and his DCS
archery team were still able to compete and they achieved
some incredible awards in spite of all the challenges and
changes from the pandemic. The DCS elementary
archery team won first place overall in the South State
tournament and second overall in the state tournament.
Individually, Evan received overall high score, top male
archer, and overall top archer because he had the highest
combined scores for both tournaments.
Hometown RANKIN • 53