From Disability to Ability: Kade Cobb doesn’t let amputation keep him off the field
Story via KTBS ABC3 with Tatum Everett (original article)
BENTON, La – It takes a certain skill-set to play football. But one Benton Middle Schooler is breaking the mold of what a football player should look like. KTBS 3 Sports Director Tatum Everett has the story of Kade Cobb, who’s not letting an amputation keep him off the field.
Fate may have throw Kade Cobb off his block, but the Benton Middle School defensive lineman is making his disability, his ability.
“I just really wanted to play football because I never played in sports until about right now,” explained Cobb.
The 5-foot-7, 160-pound, 12-year-old tried out and made the Tigers football team for the first time this year.
“He’s always wanted to and I’ve had to tell him no. We couldn’t,” said Cobb’s mother Amy Andrys.
Kade was born with fibular hemimilia, which affects the lower part of the leg. His foot had to be amputated at 14 months old, and has been wearing a prosthetic foot ever since. But life hasn’t been without its limitations.
“Sometimes they’d snap or get loose or they would split down the middle,” said Cobb.
“I just tried to make it a fun accessory until he was old enough to understand it and then begin to be proud of it. He wasn’t always confident, until this Rushfoot,” added Andrys
The Rush-Foot is an advanced prosthetic. It has given Kade the ability to do things he’s never done before, from hiking and soccer to football.
“It’s basically a new innovative foot that’s two times more flexible than a carbon fiber foot so it gives a more flexible ranger and more of a natural feel of a foot,” explained Ability Dynamic’s Paul Thrower.
“Now, he can take off. He was running bleachers last week, just for fun. Before, he had to take each step at a time and and turn to the side to get down safely. He’s not even worried anymore. He’s just so confident in his foot,” added Andrys.
Derek Wilson has been outfitting Kade with his prosthetic leg since he was six and is an amputee himself.
“Wow, it’s been holding up so far. They can do anything they want to do, just have to find a different way to do it,” said Derek Wilson with Snell’s Orthotics-Prosthetics.
“Other kids can take off at will. They don’t think about the limitations that they’re unfortunately their body has put on them. But Kade has adapted really well and although it might get him down a little bit, he always finds a way to pick himself back up and we really try to preach that to him,” described Andrys.
That attitude caught the eye of Benton Middle school head coach Wade Brooks.
“This is his first season. And honestly, I never gave him a choice, he was going to be with us. We needed him around us. He hs a lot of fight in him. He’s a good kid. He’s a good humble kid who works hard and that’s what you need. Every day he ran and it didn’t matter if he finished in last place or first or in the middle. He never ever stopped. It’s not a handicap for him, it’s just a part of life,” explained Brooks.
A light in the tunnel. That’s how Kade’s mother Amy simply put watching him run out on the field in his final game of the season, even if it was just for a couple plays.
“Pride. Not in what he’s doing for the team, or what other people think of him, but in his abilities. But that now, he has chance now to do the same things that typical kids can do. Kids who have all of their limbs. Kade always seemed to lag behind and he’s always playing catch-up and now he has the opportunity to move ahead,” said Andrys.
“I sort of feel like I have achieved something,” said Cobb.
And for the first time in his life, Kade Cobb finally feels like he has no limits.