Parker Hanson is not unfamiliar with adversity. He was born without his left hand. Imagine yourself as a child with sports dreams and you're minus one of your mitts. It wasn't easy and let's be honest, kids can be cruel.

But this kind of adversity perpetrated by someone who was probably looking for something valuable is more than cruel, it's viciously inhumane.

Sometime on Sunday night (May 2), someone committed a burglary on Parker's and his roommates' vehicles. They were parked in the driveway of the home they live in about two blocks from the Augie campus. Before you ask, yes they were unlocked and Parker admits this was a mistake.

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What was stolen was more than a monetary loss. What the burglar stole was a backpack containing Parker's prosthetic arm and all of the attachments.

Parker is a pitcher for the Augustana Vikings baseball team. The bag also contained his prosthetic batting arm.

He says he has "relied on prosthetics for specialized activities throughout my whole life" and when this person took the backpack they took away his ability to do things he does every day.

As you can imagine these items are extremely valuable to him but are worth nothing to the person who took them as they cannot be resold.

Parker said this about the backpack that was taken:

The back pack is a tan Nike bag, like a traditional school bag. The prosthetic is a black carbon fiber arm for a left hand amputee. I had various attachments inside the bag including for push ups, bench pressing, dumbbell clamps, a couple of hooks, and a baseball bat attachment. These are vital to me as I can not lift for my athletic career without them.

Here is a picture of the prosthetic arm but it is now black and not tan:

Parker Hanson prosthetic arm and Augie flag
Courtesy Parker Hanson, Amazon and Canva
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This young man has quietly gone about inspiring people by example his whole life. He will graduate from Augustana University this spring with a Master of Arts in Sports Administration and is "going into the financial advising industry following graduation this May".

If you or someone you know has information about this incident or the whereabouts of these prosthetics please call Crimestoppers of the Sioux Empire at 367-7007.

Sources: Parker Hanson

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