The aerial acrobatics of Mars Hill’s new freshman high jumper are executed with one astonishing characteristic -- he has only one forearm.
Cody Eckard, a native of Hickory, N.C., lives with his handicap so well, his talent is not overshadowed.
Eckard said he lost his arm as an infant, when he was two days old. The operation took half of Eckard’s arm from the elbow down. The procedure happened when he was so young that he never got used to having the missing section of his arm.
He was very eager to talk about his life with The Hilltop.
“When I was born, I was born with a liver deficiency, and this lead to clotting of the blood,” he said. “The arm contained a virus called gangrene, which was spreading through my body. This is why they had to amputate the arm.”
The arm was amputated at Wake Forest Baptist hospital in Winston Salem, N.C. In all there were three surgeries to remove all of the gangrene in Eckard’s body.With all the adversities, Eckard has not stopped succeeding so far.
In high school, he holds the high jump record with an astounding 6’ 6” jump. Eckard competed in indoor track this fall for Mars Hill. This season he jumped a season best of 5’ 10” at an Appalachian State invitational earlier this season. While jumping Eckard wears the traditional Mars Hill speed suit, which is a tank top.
From the run up to the jump itself, Eckard still clears the bar with the same form that the pros use. He has a bend into the bar that allows him to get more air and clear high heights on good jumps.
Eckard’s plans after college are to pursue a career in prosthetics and orthotics. Prosthetic limbs are worn to replace a missing body parts. When competing Eckard doesn’t use this tool, he goes for the height without one.
This career was inspired by his life experiences with a Greenville, S.C., hospital where Eckard was treated for his own handicap.
Eckard is interested in the treatment of people who are handicap or disabled.
“I can get a parking sticker for my car, even though I can drive perfectly fine,” he said.
“Society seems to be misleading of the capabilities from handicapped people,” said
Eckard. “Just because they lose a limb or have a mental deficiency doesn’t mean they are the same human beings on the inside.”
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