She Was Born With Just One Arm and Faced Insane Obstacles. Here's How She Overcame and Clung to Jesus
Feb 19, 2025•20 min
Episode description
Katelyn Pavey is a real-life inspiration. Born with one arm, she persevered, overcame the odds — and, against all odds, played college softball. Pavey's incredible journey is told in "I Can," a film that shows God's grace throughout life's many trials.
For years, she rebuffed attempts to make a movie about her story, believing she didn't really have anything special to share. "I didn't want to be seen as sitting on a pedestal," she said. "And I also thought there was more people in our congregation that needed their story to be told — and it wasn't only me who denied it three times. It was also my dad."
But her pastor, Tyler Sansom — who is also the director of "I Can" — was successfully able to convince Pavey to take part. "Gowing up, I faced a lot of adversity," she said. "I faced a lot of challenges that I had to overcome and adapt to." Sometimes, parents even stopped their children from playing with her because she looked different. Over time, she had to learn to adjust to such moments.
"You continue to adapt to any adversity that you're thrown in life, and you overcome that, you become successful," Pavey said. "You don't go back to your old ways, you don't give up, you keep pushing on to be successful, to show people that you can. And that's just what I did my whole life, especially through the sport of softball."
She forged toward her goals, becoming an all-state player during her high school career and eventually signing college scholarship to play softball — a full-ride to Cincinnati Christian University.
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