17-year-old Elise Wright has at least five reasons she could give as an excuse for not hitting a goal – but instead she sees endless possibilities.
MILLVILLE – 17-year-old Elise Wright has at least five reasons she could give as an excuse for not hitting a goal – but instead she sees endless possibilities.
“I was born missing all my fingers on my left hand.”
The high school senior has learned how to adapt without five fingers.
“Obviously, it hasn’t been easy,” she says, “but I’ve been able to do a lot of things.”
She doesn’t sit back and wait for opportunities to find her. She pursues them.
“I also play three sports.”
Elise runs track, cross country and is a varsity basketball player at Ridgeline High School.
And forget guarding her at the 3-point line. She is lethal.
“Her nickname on the team is Snipe,” her mom, Holly Wright says. “She’s a sniper on the court, it’s really fun to watch!”
Elise’s basketball coach told Holly her daughter has something special.
“She said she’s got the purest shot on the team, because she has no left hand, which is no left thumb, so it’s just a pure shot all the way through.”
Her mom beams as she describes all of the milestones her driven daughter has hit since her birth.
“She tied her shoes the same time everybody else could,” her mom recalls. “In second grade she could do her own ponytail in her hair. Now she can french braid her hair. She learned how to clip her own fingernails, paint her own fingernails. It’s been really cool to just see how she just adapts to everything.”
As an athlete who needs to lift weights, and also has a love for kayaking, Elise began looking for options to level the playing field.
When she was a baby, the doctors at Shriners Hospital told her parents to come see them when she was done growing to be fitted for a prosthetic. So last spring she was fitted and just recently got it.
“I have my prosthetic now,” Elise exclaims, “and I am able to use it to lift weights and kayak and curl my hair recently, and hopefully I will be able to use it to do more.”
Previously, she could only lift weights with her right arm, but this prosthetic has become a game-changer.
“I’ve obviously been able to get stronger for basketball which is a huge thing.”
Elise’s experiences have allowed her to now become an ambassador for Shriner’s. She says she is excited to meet more people with abilities like her. Last weekend she participated in the Shriners Annual 1-mile Walk for Love event in Salt Lake City and met more friends like her who have been helped by a prosthetic.
She was also inspired last week when she met 2024 Paris Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhall, who is from Utah and is a double amputee who runs track. Elise raced against him in the 400 meter, a race she also runs in track. He told her to set her goals high. She was inspired and later told her mom in regards to her athletic goals, “I’m going to keep going!”
Elise’s advice to anyone discouraged by any perceived lack of ability is to not give up and keep trying.
“If you put yourself or hold yourself back or say, ‘I can’t do this because I was born this way, like I have this problem holding me back,’” she says. “You just need to overcome it, because honestly you can do anything.”
An unassuming Elise won’t brag, but she feels gratitude for what she has gained by overcoming the challenge of not having a left hand.
“I have learned how to do so many things in a two-handed world.”
She doesn’t see disability – only possibility.
“It has helped me know and helped others know that anything is possible.”
As Elise practices for an upcoming powder puff football game she’s more than excited to use her new prosthetic, but at the same time, completely at home with throwing the pigskin the way she’s done it the last 17 years.