Ryan Prewitt photo -- Ariel Liker, 14, uses her mouth to shoot a bow at the St. Louis Bow Hunter's Club in St. Charles.

Ariel Liker draws back her bow with her mouth and shoots. The arrow soars through the air, hitting just above its target 20 yards away.

Ariel, 14, lives in unincorporated St. Charles County near Cottleville. She's a freshman at Francis Howell High School and an athlete.

She swims, runs track and enjoys archery and scuba diving. She even participated in the Lake Saint Louis Triathlon. Twice.

Scott and Shannon Liker say their eldest daughter is the most tenacious person they know. She almost has to be. Cerebral palsy limits her ability to use her right side.

"She's probably one of the most determined people you'll ever meet," Scott said. "She's incredible that way."

Ariel was born in March 1995. The Likers had been married six years when they decided to have a baby.

"We wanted to spend time with each other before having a baby," Shannon said. "We wanted to buy a house."

They lived in Flagstaff, Ariz. at the time. Scott was in the Army and later flew planes and helicopters over the Grand Canyon for a private company. Shannon gave tours of the canyon.

"We were really excited to have a child," Scott said. "When she was born, I was on top of the world."

Scott said everything seemed fine until the day after Ariel's birth.

"They told us there was a problem and that she needed to be medevaced to Phoenix," he said. "We didn't know what was happening."

Scott said doctors in Flagstaff had noticed a brain abnormality in Ariel's CAT scan. A blood clot had lodged in the base of Ariel's brain, causing a stroke that disrupted blood flow to 85 percent of its left side.

"I didn't know what to do or who to turn to," Shannon said. "You don't hear about babies having strokes."

Shannon said doctors didn't know if Ariel would live through the emergency flight to a medical center in Phoenix.

"She was in the ICU for 11 days," Scott said. "We had her baptized when she was a day old. I went from being on top of the world to feeling like I had been picked up and thrown onto a pile of rocks."

Panic set in, Shannon said, when Ariel was released from the hospital.

"They told us to just take her home and make her comfortable," she said. "There was no training involved. No parent support."

The Likers read books on cerebral palsy to get a sense of how Ariel might develop.

Ariel has no control over her right arm, which is smaller than the left. Her legs have grown the same way. When she clinches her left hand, the right tightens.

As she got older, Shannon and Scott enrolled Ariel in hippotherapy, therapeutic horseback riding that helps build muscle stability and strength.

"She would fall asleep on the horse," Shannon said. "Afterwards, I would take her to the car and stretch her out. It really makes a difference."

Ariel became stronger the more she grew, Scott said. She always exceeded their expectations.

"One day we realized that she was crawling," Scott said. "She figured out a way to do it on her own. We never tried to put a protective bubble around her."

When asked how he would describe Ariel's personality, Scott paused.

"It's tough for me to peg it," he said. "She went from being a shy, reclusive homebody to a confident, outgoing young lady."

At 6, Ariel started tying her shoes with one hand. I watched as Ariel demonstrated the technique. She holds down a shoe lace with her right hand, loops with the left, then pulls the shoelace into a bow.

"She figures out how to do things that we don't event think about," Shannon said.

Like finding a new way to play "Guitar Hero," one of her favorite games, with her 12-year-old sister Alexis. Their other sister, Vanessa is 8.

"Ariel's good," Alexis told me. "She's tried to use string to strum the guitar but it didn't work. She'll beat me when she finds a way to do that."

Ariel said she doesn't let most things stop her. She wants to be a doctor, just like her neurologist at St. Louis Children's Hospital. That doctor also has cerebral palsy.

"It's really cool that she is my doctor because she knows what we go through," Ariel said.

After moving to St. Charles County in December 2004, Ariel got involved with the Disabled Athletes Sports Association. Kelly Behlmann, founder of DASA, was her physical therapist. Shannon said Behlmann knew before even seeing Ariel play any sport that she'd be a great athlete.

One day during a meeting at school, Shannon said, "Kelly wrote on a piece of paper that Ariel was on her swim team. And that's how she got started."

Ariel will compete in track, field, swimming and archery in the 2009 National Junior Disability Championships, which takes place from July 25 through Aug. 1 at the St. Peters Rec-Plex and St. Charles West High School.

Ariel rock climbs, parasails and rides zip lines for fun.

I asked her how she does so much.

"I don't think about it," she said.

Latreecia Wade is a Journal reporter who also writes a column about caregivers. She can be reached at lwade@yourjournal.com or by phone at 636-946-6111, ext. 227.