By GARY VAN CLEAVE
Special to Great Bend Post
Sometimes in life, as the old saying goes, it’s better to be lucky than good.
Such is the case for Kinsley High freshman Stephan Fernandez, who one year ago rolled his UTV in Mexico that changed his life forever on Aug. 3, 2023.
“Very,” the Coyote basketball player said when asked if it could have been worse.
In a video shot by family, Fernandez had parked his UTV on an embankment into a shallow creek. Suddenly the vehicle’s momentum maneuvered the vehicle upside down in the water.
Fernandez, not wearing a helmet, escaped within seconds and ran through the knee-deep water screaming “my fingers! my fingers!”
Fernandez was flown out to the biggest and best hospital in Chihuahua, Mexico, where he was immediately taken in for a 12-hour surgery for his three left fingers that took the brunt of the landing.
“I had full consciousness the whole time,” Fernandez, whose fingers landed on a rock when the vehicle capsized.
“I had stuck my hand out and I think it landed on a rock,” Fernandez said, whose three left fingers had been severely damaged.
“Man I was in shock I didn’t think it was real,” Fernandez said as he ran towards family to show them his mutilated fingers.
Doctors immediately tried to save his fingers.
“First they took veins from my right hand then put them into my left to try and get my circulation back but it didn’t work,” Fernandez said.
The first surgery required 150 total stitches in his hands, including 130 in his damaged left hand.
Three days later, Fernandez was under the knife for another seven hours as they tried to put more veins in to no avail.
Six days later, doctors amputated his left three fingers in a three-hour operation. Since, Fernandez has had three more surgeries.
Fernandez said the pain wasn’t bad immediately following the accident.
“I didn’t really feel any from the adrenaline,” Fernandez said.
The pain at its worst has been a 5 on a scale of 1-10.
Fernandez has not been depressed from the accident or wondered “why me?”
“I prayed to God day and night,” he said. “I knew God was with me.”
Instead, he had another favor for God.
“Take my mom’s pain away. She was in pain that I had gotten hurt,” Fernandez said.
“It’s definitely been a struggle for him, but he’s gotten used to it and he’s not letting it define him,” freshman Josh Stuckey said. “I think he’s more appreciative that he’s still here with us and that life isn’t just handed to you.”
“What he’s gone through is terrible because he lost something he’ll never get back,” freshman Lane Hattrup said. “But he’s kept on playing like it didn’t happen.”
“It’s different,” Fernandez said of waking up with just two fingers after his third surgery. “I was just glad I was okay.”
Fernandez plans to play basketball this winter for the Coyotes. He said nothing has changed the way he holds the ball with his left hand.
“It’s the same to be honest just can’t do as much with my left hand now,” said Fernandez, who can dribble with his left hand.
“Steve has been through a lot. I can’t imagine losing fingers it would suck,” senior Anthony Meza said. “He struggled with it at first a lot, but he’s gotten a lot better. He doesn’t let it affect him and he’s just accepted it. He’s still doing sports and having fun.”
“At first he struggled a little with dribbling, but as he got used to it he got better and got back to normal. He doesn’t let his finger say who he is, he’s Him,” freshman Joey Prieto said. “He played basketball even though he had two fingers.”
“He inspires me a lot, I mean not a lot of people can bounce back from an injury like that as fast, and well as he did,” freshman Grant Schmitt said. “I know if that happened to me, I wouldn’t to be able to do half the stuff as well as he can.”
Fernandez said he regrets not wearing gloves which might not have saved his fingers, “but it wouldn’t have been as bad,” he said.
“He has been through lots of surgeries and therapies and he’s been going strong,” sophomore Jonathan Meza said. “Right now he’s going good and is playing football this season. He said he is ready to play and ready to get back at his favorite sport. So he is going great and doesn’t care what people say.”
Several opposing players have made fun of him and his seven fingers.
“There was a lot I can’t even remember,” Fernandez said.
But one trash message stood out.
“You only got seven fingers you can’t play basketball,” Fernandez said. “They made me wanna become better.”
“He inspires me to persevere no matter what life throws at you,” Hattrup said.
“He had courage to play basketball even though he knew people would probably make fun of him,” Prieto said.
“That drive to be better and keep moving on through adversity and hardships,” Schmitt said.
Fernandez has this message for God.
“Thank you for everything,” he said.