One-handed Windsor wrestler Dylan Wood: 'In my mind, everyone is born differently'

Update, Feb. 15: 23 Fort Collins-area wrestlers advance to quarterfinals at state

Dylan Wood doesn’t know life with the use of two hands.

And he has never thought about what life would be like with a pair. What he does know is he has what he has — one hand, one nub, as he calls it.

He’s taught himself how to ride a bike, cast a fishing pole and tie his shoes. He's taught his parents, Diane and Garett Wood, a whole lot more about life.

“A lot of things we couldn’t show him how to do because we never experienced it, so he ended up teaching us,’’ Garett said. “One night when he was really little, my wife and I were watching TV in the living room and Dylan was supposed to be asleep. Instead, he comes running out of his bedroom all excited and showed us that he figured out how to tie his shoes. It was amazing.’’

To Dylan, it was just his life. Different but not difficult. Figure it out or fall behind.

“In my mind, everyone is born differently,’’ the soft-spoken Windsor High School junior wrestler said. “I just figure the reason I was born this way is to inspire other people.’’

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Like at a home wrestling match against Mead this year. Garett and Diane were talking to Dylan after he pinned his opponent when a young boy from Mead came up to them.

“He asked Dylan if he could shake his hand because he liked the way he wrestled,’’ Garett said. “We glanced down and saw the kid had a prosthetic foot. Dylan could have said thanks and moved on, but he spent time talking to him. That is really how Dylan is.’’

It hasn’t been easy for Dylan or his parents. Seventeen years later, Diane still choked up recalling her initial shock when Dylan was born. She knew things didn’t look right, but ultrasounds didn’t show any abnormalities when she was pregnant.

“It was the most horrific day of my life, when it was supposed to be the happiest day of my life,’’ Diane said. “I’m not the most religious person in the world, but I believe there is a God and can remember asking why God would do that to a baby. It wasn’t until later that I realized why he was born that way.’’

Dylan was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, which left his left hand without fingers. According to the ABS website, ABS is a group of congenital birth defects believed to be caused by fetal parts (arm, fingers, toes, etc.) being entangled in string-like amniotic bands while in utero. This prohibits proper growth of the limb.

With no left hand, wrestling proved as challenging for Dylan as tying his shoes, but the outcome was the same: He figured it out.

Despite not starting the sport until middle school, he qualified for the Class 4A state wrestling tournament as a freshman and went 1-2. His sophomore year, he mostly wrestled junior varsity on a loaded Windsor team. Bummed but not broken, he won his weight class at the state junior varsity tournament.

This year, wrestling coach Monte Trusty used Dylan to fill in at various weights between 132 and 145 pounds, depending on what the team needed. All Dylan did was go 27-17 and finish a surprising second at regionals to qualify for state at 145 pounds, despite weighing in at 134.4 pounds, just above minimum to wrestle at the weight.

The state tournament takes place Thursday through Sunday at Pepsi Center in Denver.

Trusty said he first saw Dylan wrestle at Severance Middle School and was impressed. As a freshman on the wrestling team, he knew he had a special wrestler, and not just because he had only one hand.

“He never came up to me and said I can’t do this or that or asked to do something different than the rest of the wrestlers, and I didn’t ask him to,’’ Trusty said. “He’s a hard worker and not everyone is a hard worker. And he has heart. That definitely stuck out with me. When I saw his hard work and heart, I knew then that we had someone special.’’

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Dylan said he and his coaches have figured out ways to work around his nub. He said his favorite move is the guillotine, which largely uses the legs to pin an opponent.

As down to earth as Dylan is, there is never a dull moment when he lets it rip on the mat, said Diane, who with family and extended family rarely misses Dylan's matches.

“Dylan isn’t the most gifted wrestler, but there is one thing you can be sure of when he wrestles; he wrestles with heart,’’ Diane said. “Half the crowd is cheering for him because he’s wrestling for Windsor and the other half is cheering for him because he wrestles so damn hard, and not just because he has one hand.’’

When Dylan isn’t working on his wrestling moves, you can often find him competing in another passion of his. He is a member of the Windsor High School bass fishing team, where his fishing partner is fellow wrestler Cody Eaton. The team competes against each other as well as members of other high school teams.

And like many other things in life, Dylan taught himself to fish, which he does by casting with his right hand, then reeling with his left.

As much as he enjoys fishing with friends and family, he also enjoys teaching the sport to others.

“One of my favorite things is teaching disabled kids through Cast for Kids how to fish,’’ said Dylan, who added that he has too many rods to count. “To see the expressions on their face when they catch a fish is awesome.’’

It’s those moments in Dylan’s different life that has made Diane rethink her initial reaction to when the first of her two sons was born.

"We have this really freaky bond between us,'' said Diane, whose younger son was not afflicted by ABS. "If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't want him to have two hands. I really wouldn't. He was born with one hand for a reason. He was born to not only handle it but to inspire others because of it.''

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