Young hero smiles, thrives after being crushed by dresser

Have you ever met someone with a smile so bright, they should pay the sun royalties?

Do you know someone whose spirit is so refreshing, you don’t need to see them enter a crowded room to know they've arrived?

I met one of these people three years ago as I helped chaperone a church youth trip to Palmyra, N.Y. She is Ashley Evans of Berryville, Va., and if she organized a fan club, I’d run for president, vice president, treasurer and chief window washer.

On paper, she’s like many 17-year-old girls. She loves the color purple; the shade, not the movie. Her favorite class is lunch. She likes mac and cheese, candy and books. She can’t get enough “Toy Story”; the movie, not stories about toys.

She’s a fan of Hilary Weeks and Owl City. Who’s her most favorite? That would be former America Idol superstar, David Archuleta.

Her favorite scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

If anyone knows about anything about trusting in the Lord and relying on heavenly understanding, it’s Ashley Evans.

As an 18-month-old toddler with unbound energy, Ashley was an accomplished climber. Once, while her parents were thousands of miles away celebrating their anniversary on a cruise ship, Ashley removed the drawers from a dresser and scaled it like Spider-Man.

In an instant, her life pivoted forever. The dresser, and the heavy television on top, fell and crushed the left side of her skull.

Her family quickly learned that though the accident may have paralyzed the left side of her mind and body, it did not paralyze her spirit.

She’ll have to relearn to walk? No problem.

She’s lost most of the sight in her left eye? No worries.

Learning to read will be tougher and take longer than her friends? So what?

Her father, blessed with a sense of humor so dry he sleeps with a humidifier, once cracked, "She certainly has done more than most folks with a complete brain."

As family and friends can attest, Ashley matches him wit-for-wit. During a chat after church about this very column, her father tossed out that she also suffers from hearing loss in her left ear. Ashley spun her head toward him, “Wait, what?”