David van Wert was a member of The Flying Dutchmen, a famed family of trapeze artists, until a tragic accident left him an orphan and earned him the colorful nickname "Butterfingers." He ran away from the circus shortly thereafter.

In 1996 he was seriously injured by a faulty roulette wheel at a casino. The massive transfusions he received at White Feather Medical Center saved his life, and David has been a full-blooded Cherokee ever since.