“I was getting recruited by bigger schools in the MAC conference,” Evans said.
He was recovering from an ACL injury when something unthinkable happened on July 5, 2022.
“I was at a friend’s house and found a leftover firework in the grass and didn’t think much of it,” Evans said. “I decided to light it, but nothing happened. Then it went off in my hand and face.”
Evans remembers most everything from that day in detail, from never seeing a spark to everything suddenly going white and losing his hearing. He heard his friend’s muffled screaming.
“My vision started to clear, and my body felt like it was on fire,” Evans said. “I looked down at my hand, and it was gone.”
Evans’ friend’s mother thought she heard a gunshot. She ran across the yard and saw Evans, grabbed him and pulled him into her car, driving directly to Dayton Children’s. Evans’ mother met them there.
Doctors worked to stop the bleeding and within a few hours, Evans was in surgery, with the priority being to close the gaping wound where his right hand had been. Evans ended up staying in the hospital for nine days until doctors were certain the bleeding was under control.
“They didn’t tell me until my next appointment that they needed to reroute my nerves because of phantom pain,” Evans said. “That’s when they mentioned a prosthetic for the first time.”
Evans lost about four inches of his arm as well. In September he had the second surgery.
“I know I was frustrated by what happened looking back,” Evans said. “I was right-handed and even the smallest things were hard. I had to get started learning to write and doing everyday stuff with my left hand.”
Evans was, at the time, still doing physical therapy for his ACL tear. He now had to add occupational therapy for his hand. He decided then and there to use this time to “get back in the groove,” and make his life over as a left-hander. His grades in school didn’t suffer, rather they improved.
But playing football for a Big 10 school, was in doubt. Could he play with only one hand? The recruiters who had wanted him prior to the accident faded away.
“There were only a few schools that wanted me,” Evans said. “I knew the day after losing my hand that I was still going to play football. No matter what.”
Evans’ coach and mentor, Kerry Ivy, came to visit him in the hospital. Ivy was frank with Evans, telling him his hand was not going to grow back. They talked about football and what might be next. When Evans told him he was planning to play football the following year, his coach advised him not to rush things because recovery was most important.
“My coach was going through health issues himself, and this was life changing for me,” Evans said. “We attacked it all together and he kept encouraging me.”
After being released from the hospital, the first place Evans went was to his high school to watch his teammates practice. As soon as doctors cleared him for both his ACL injury and his hand – after five months – he was given the green light to play again.
“I worked hard, and I had a good game when I returned,” Evans, who played linebacker for his team, said. “I got my first prosthetic hand, but my grandmother didn’t like it.”
Evans’ grandmother, Vickie Nelson, wasn’t happy with the functionality of his prosthetic hand and thought she could find something better. She researched a company called Bionic that has developed upper and lower limb protheses designed to restore the normal functions of missing body parts.
“I thought it sounded cool,” Evans said. “The company pulled some strings and got the money donated and I was fitted in December of my senior year in 2023.”
In February of 2024, Evans and his grandmother picked up his new “bionic” hand in Orlando.
“It’s a big difference,” Evans said. “You have no control with a regular prosthetic, but this one is different because I can reach to grab something and then let it go.”
Evans’ hand allows him a range of motion and various grips, and he simply thinks what he is going to do, and it does it. He calls it a true “upgrade.”
As for football, he still plays and is now a sophomore at Tiffin University. He says his new hand has taught him to be more patient, rather than all physical.
“It changed my life,” Evans said of the accident and subsequent recovery. “My advice about fireworks is leave it to the professionals because you never know if a dud is really a dud. Because of my accident, I want to help others like they helped me.”
PERSONAL JOURNEY
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