Kevin Mitchell
The StarPhoenix
SASKATOON — Lists, routines and old-fashioned grit keep Terry Evanshen’s life humming along.
The former CFL football star, whose memories and past life were literally erased following an auto accident in 1988 at age 44, continues to deal with short-term memory loss. The events of one day are forgotten the next, unless he commits them to paper.
“If I have things to do tomorrow, I mark them down,” said Evanshen, who is the guest speaker Saturday at the Saskatchewan Brain Injury Association’s Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey in Saskatoon.
“I don’t put any time constraints on them; I just know I have to start it and finish it. I mark down what I have to do and where I have to go; it’s the five Ws. As long as I have the five Ws under control, I know what I’m doing.”
That kind of organization came naturally to Evanshen during his stint from 1965 to 1978 as a glue-fingered CFL receiver and seven-time all-star. His survival then depended on outmanouevring and out-plotting bigger opponents.
The accident, in which a car ran a red light and crashed into his Jeep, erased his memory and stripped clean his entire emotional base. He had no recollection of his family or his football past; he reverted, in many ways, from adult to toddler. Early on, one of his daughters threw him a football; he had no idea what to do with it.
His family took it upon themselves to reteach him the game that once defined him; they taught him to catch a football, just like he taught them when they were children and he was the indestructable father/football star.
“I was a nobody, I was a somebody, I was a nobody, then I had to be totally retrained again — how to speak and eat properly,” said Evanshen, who was the subject of June Callwood’s book The Man Who Lost Himself.
“The first five years (after the accident) was a nightmare.
“You’re starting all over again. You have no experience; you never worked; you never did this, you never did that. I was always in the never stage. It was ‘Who’s this? What’s that?’ You’re walking around befuddled. It took me a long time to learn to cross the street. The light turning red and turning green, getting caught in the middle and not moving; it was silliness. But the brain was all scrambled up.”
Even today, two decades after the accident, Evanshen has absolutely no memory of his other life. Everything he knows about his football career comes from old newspaper clippings, film, and the recollections of family, friends and former teammates.
He’s resigned himself to the complete erasure of that history within his memory bank; to the fact there will never be any sweet twinkling of recollection.
“It never happens,” Evanshen said. “I tried many times. The doctor finally said, ‘Listen, Terry — the brain cells died. Forget it. You have to build a new memory bank and you have to give each moment your best.’ ”
So he does that, in part, through frequent speaking engagements — sharing his tale with other people across the country, many who first knew him as the football star.
He’s convinced that what he’s doing is making an impact,
“Everybody has their trials and tribulations; everybody has an issue,” Evanshen said. “But very few people know how to dig down and try to solve it. Most times, people magnify their problems rather than simplify it.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. But after these many years, I realize I’m affecting people’s lives. I’m very happy with what I’m doing.
“I live for the moment,” he added, “and I give you everything I have for that moment, because that’s what I have going for me.”
The Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey goes Saturday at the Willows Golf and Country Club and includes a dinner and silent auction.
Courtesy: www.thestarphoenix.com
