Sean Daniels has moved on from the farming accident that caused him to lose his left hand and forearm last October.

In fact, he plans to return to the potato fields this fall.

“It was just meant to happen,” said the 17-year-old Daniels of the accident, in which he got his arm caught in a conveyor belt on the back of a potato truck.

“It wasn’t the job that caused it, it just happened.”

What’s happened since that fateful October day has bordered on the whirlwind for Daniels, who soon will begin his senior year at Easton High School.

His determination to overcome the accident and resume his interscholastic athletic career earned nationwide media attention last winter when he returned to the Easton basketball team and joined the Bears in the Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinals.

Daniels then was fitted for a prosthetic arm this spring, and when he received the finished product he also got a big-time surprise – a trip to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles to join 600 other campers at the soldout Kobe Bryant Basketball Academy.

“It was very shocking,” said Daniels when he learned of the trip, which came about thanks to some behind-the-scenes work by his mother, Debbie Bartley, and the company that built his prosthesis. “I didn’t really say much then or afterward. I was speechless.

“I had looked up the camp on my own before, trying to figure out if I could ever swing it. Everybody knows I love basketball and that I’m a huge fan of the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, so for me it was the perfect gift.”

The recent cross-country trip necessitated Daniels’ first-ever plane flight.

“I was afraid at first,” he said, “but I sat with an off-duty pilot, and he told me everything that was going on.”

Perhaps more nerve-wracking was his first day at the camp, as the talent pool was of high quality and his presence there was being filmed by a CBS news crew for a story about his case that’s scheduled broadcast shortly after 8 a.m. today on the CBS Early Show.

“It was different,” said Daniels, who also was filmed by CBS in Bangor when he first received his prosthesis in mid-June and at home in Easton the next day. ” I heard they talked to Kobe, too, and I’m wondering what he had to say.”

Perhaps the personal highlight of the trip was Daniels’ opportunity to meet the Los Angeles Lakers’ star.

“I talked to him for a little bit,” said Daniels. “He’s a lot taller in person than I thought he was, and he was very nice, he showed a lot of respect for everyone.

“Kobe has been my favorite player ever since he came into the league. He’s an extremely talented guy, one of the best in basketball. He’s someone that when he’s on the court never gives up, and whether he’s winning or down and out he fights to the end.”

Daniels did not wear his prosthesis while competing at the Bryant camp and does not plan to use it when on the court next winter, either, citing the heaviness of the device as well as the fact that he has grown accustomed to playing basketball without his left arm.

“I remember when I first started playing again thinking about how much I wanted it, but once I got it and started using it, I didn’t have that same feeling,” said Daniels. “I got used to playing with just my limb, and the arm is pretty heavy. I figured I’d just get on with playing and just try to better my game the way it is right now.”

That decision got one of its first significant tests during the Bryant camp.

“It really helped going out to L.A.,” said Daniels, “because people were forcing me to go left and I had to figure out ways to go against it. I think I figured out some ways.”

Not that Daniels won’t benefit in other ways from having his prosthetic arm available.

“I’ll be able to tie my shoes again,” he said, “and there’s an attachment that’s like a claw I’ll be able to use to do the dishes.”

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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