City youth nearly electrocuted in August doing fine

By Greg Miller
STAR STAFF

   Thirteen-year-old Evan Jacob "E.J." Crowe, who was nearly electrocuted on Aug. 13 when he grabbed two 110 volt electrical lines running from a power pole to an apartment building at 327 S. Lynn Ave., is now doing fine. Evan, who was 12 years old at the time, was playing on the roof of the South Lynn apartment building.
   In an interview with the STAR after the mishap, Evan's parents, Gwendolyn and Larry Crowe, 306 E. K St., credited divine intervention with their son's life being spared.
   Carter County Rescue Squad transported Evan to the Johnson City Medical Center, then on to the Shriner's Burn Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. In Cincinnati, medical professionals "assessed the damage and made him comfortable," said Gwendolyn Crowe. "The next day he went into his first surgery to further assess the damage and repair an injured tendon in the index finger of his left hand."
   Surgeons performed a procedure called a pedicle flap. "They lifted the tissue from his side and attached his left hand to it," Crowe said. "He had the pedicle flap for three weeks. Then he had surgery to remove his hand from his side.
   "The graft didn't take. In all, he had about six surgeries on his left hand. After they got the graft to attach, he come home within a couple of weeks after that, on Oct. 12." While the doctors thought Evan might lose two fingers, he only lost the tip of his little finger.
   Evan, his mother said, "is doing pretty well. He goes to Dr. Danny Smith for therapy every day. He could have full use of his hand if he does his therapy like he should. It's going to take a lot of work on his part to get that 100 percent back."
   A seventh-grader at T.A. Dugger Jr. High School, Evan played football for Unaka Youth Club prior to the accident. "His season was just getting ready to start when this happened," Crowe said. "He played baseball for Citizens Bank. He played soccer for the Thunderbirds."
   Evan "has been released to play anything that he can play," Crowe said. "We'll see how he does in the springtime when baseball comes around."
   Evan is looking forward to a Merry Christmas. He is hoping to receive "The X Box," the new game that's out that can't be found," his mom said.