Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 25

1 iptMgM Page Al Sunday, May 20, 1979 Daylon Daily News I 4 Marfc Duncan. OAitv Nws Partk ipalinj; in classnMun work and sjMM ts is no problem for And. He uses Ins fee! lo attach a test paper lo a clipboard and jumps hurdle during school eveti! life to the fullest despite handicap wes Andy I 4. 6 rfrfoV 7 A. -3 i-? 8Tfxint nai By ACE ELLIOTT Daily News Staff Writer KINGS CREEK Like the other third-graders taking a vocabulary test in Linda Stallsmith's class, 9-year-old Andy Detwiler wrote his answers carefully, occasionally flipping the pencil over to erase.

In most respects, Andy is just like the other pupils at Salem Elementary in this crossroads town in Champaign County. He works hard and plays hard. There is one big difference. Andy Detwiler has no arms. IN 1972, WHEN HE was 2, Andy lost his entire right arm, including the shoulder blade, and his left arm between the elbow and shoulder in an accident on the family farm.

When Mrs. Stallsmith handed out the test, Andy used his feet to attach the mimeographed sheet to a clipboard. Holding the board with his left foot, he wrote with a pencil held between the toes of his right foot. Momentarily puzzled by a question, he leaned his head against his right foot while he pondered. When Mrs.

Stallsmith asked how many youngsters were finished, Andy's right foot could be seen among the sua of hands. After the test, Andy went to the bookshelf and returned with a book tucked under his chin. Later, he sketched a picture of a shark, pulling his crayons from the box with his toes. When the occasion calls for it, he even manipulates scissors with his right foot. MRS.

STALLSMITH SAID Andy is an average student and does everything the other youngsters do. When he takes his time, she said, he does good, neat work especially writing. He uses a desk just like the others in the room. Mrs. Stallsmith said she has to be careful not to do things for Andy that he can do himself.

"He'll let you know when he can do something he's very independent," she said. When the day was over, Andy spread out his jacket, filled it with his homework and zipped it with his toes. After a classmate tied his shoes for him one of the few things he needs help with Andy flipped the jacket bundle under his chin and headed for the bus and home a farm on Upper Valley Pike, just south of West Liberty in northern Champaign County. A C0UPLE OF DAYS EARLIER, Andy's mother. Pat Detwiler, went to school and watched proudly as her son competed in a track meet.

He took part in the long jump and the hurdles race. "He always enters what his friends get into," she laughed. He's an excellent swimmer and skateboarder, she noted. Mrs. Detwiler recounted the accident.

The little boy and his sister, Kathy, now 12. were standing near their own house with their grandfather, Lawrence Detwiler, watching as workmen used a 40-foot auger to put wheat from a wagon Into an overhead storage bin. Occasionally, the grandfather would scoop up a handful of wheat for moisture testing. The wagon was nearly empty when Andy, apparently mimicking his grandfather, reached out for a handful of wheat. HIS RIGHT ARM GOT caught in the steel auger.

"We assume that he grabbed for his right hand with his left and it got caught, too," his mother recalled. Mrs. Detwiler said she had been painting the house and turned to see Andy, covered with blood, walking toward the house with his grandfather. "He never lost consciousness," she recalled. The boy was rushed to Mercy Hospital Urbana and promptly was transferred to Children's Medical Center in Columbus.

Mrs. Detwiler and her husband, Tom, stayed at Andy's bedside, trying to comfort the badly-injured child. The auger also had banged his face and he had a hundred stitches inside and outside his mouth. JUST HOURS AFTER THE accident, Andy asked his parents to take the bandages off and free his arms. That was the most difficult moment in the ordeal, Mrs.

Detwiler said. She and her husband stared briefly at each other and decided he had to be told. They asked if he remembered thu accident and he did. "Your arms are gone," they told the boy. "You'll never have them again." After that, his mother said, "He never mentioned it." Mrs.

Detwiler said she knew early that Andy would never be helpless. Less than three weeks after the accident, she said, he surprised her by extending his leg to the end of his hospital bed, clutching a blanket with his toes and covering himself. TODAY, MRS. DETWILER SAID, Andy can dress himself, with the exception of fastening his trousers. He drives a tractor and does other farm chores.

"His balance is fantastic and he doesn't fall any more than other kids," Mrs. Detwiler said. "The only difference is that he can't break his fall. He has his frustrations, though, and that's when his friends begin to play baseball." Andy goes to Ohio State University, where he is a weekly model for students studying adaptive physical education. At OSU, he learned soccer and loves to play it, but it has not caught on yet In this rural area.

His sturdy legs are especially suited for soccer. TWICE, HE HAS GONE BACK to Children's Mospi-tal to visit und give to your.gslers who lost limbs. Andy has a battery-operated artificial arm for his left side, but he doesn't use it, his mother said. He doesn't think he needs it. Andy is just one of the 1mvs as he v.atches conteslants i.i track meet.

Taking school chair and putting it on his desk is no problem for And who also works in hi.s fathers cultivated field.