‘Just keep believing’
Fort Bend teen fighting to walk again after football injury left him paralyzed
Fourteen months after he lost his ability to walk, Jordyn Hawkins hasn’t lost his smile.
The popular Fort Bend ISD football playerwent in for a tackle at a high school football game and was left with a devastating injury: He was paralyzed from the shoulders down.
Ever since, his family has prayed for a miracle.
“I’ve never been a person to feel down,” said Hawkins, now16. “I’ve never been a person to cry.”
His family’s prayer hasn’t been answered, but Hawkins is making
some progress. The high school junior, who now attends Thurgood Marshall High School, is on track to graduate.
He also goes to a paralysis recovery center twice a week to hopefully walk again one day. He has movement in his arms and better stability in his core. His family purchased a handicap-accessible van with money raised through GoFundMe.
Through it all, the family’s faith hasn’t wavered.
“We still believe that he’s going to walk,” said the teen’s mother, Deandrea Wade, during a Zoom interview with the Chronicle.
“That’s still our prayer. We know that God does his thing in his own timing and his own way.”
Fateful switch to defense
Before his injury, Hawkins was a sophomore running back on Stephen F. Austin High School’s varsity football team.
But the football game on Sept. 12, 2019, would prove life-changing.
Hawkins, who was playing during the afternoon junior varsity game that week, volunteered to be put on defense during a play.
His mom remembers hearing a loud hit and then a gasp from the crowd.
Then, everyone went quiet. Wade did not initially think her son was involved in the disarray on the field because he normally did not play defense.
But she was wrong. Hawkins had injured himself after tackling the quarterback and was rushed to the emergency room.
Later, they would find out more bad news — the teen had suffered a spinal cord injury.
Hawkins, who has played football since he was 5, remembers thinking he may not play again.
“I told my coach, ‘This is it. This is my last game,’ because I couldn’t feel anything,” Hawkins said in 2019.
But Hawkins’ community rallied around him. They held each other and prayed. A little over $30,000 was raised through a GoFundMe for the teen.
Several weeks after being injured, Hawkins was discharged from TIRR Memorial Hermann.
Outpatient therapy
Now, Hawkins receives outpatient therapy four days a week at three different facilities.
He needs assistance 24 hours a day and his mom is his primary caregiver, in addition to nurses who assist.
Wade, who worked as a consultant, quit her job to focus on caring for her son. Hawkins’ father, a medical consultant, is the main breadwinner for the family.
Not all has been smooth. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, it forced Hawkins to stop outpatient treatment for months at TIRR Memorial Hermann.
Wade found an alternative in Project Walk Houston, a paralysis recovery center that helps patients suffering from various ailments, including spinal cord injuries such as her son’s.
Hawkins, who started going to Project Walk in June, attends two-hour sessions at the facility twice a week.
Ross LaBove, co-owner at Project Walk, works closely with Hawkins and says the two often joke around with each other.
Hawkins is still experiencing spasms in different parts of his body including his legs and knees. At the facility, the team completes stretching exercises and other workout routines to help calm his nervous system.
Since his injury, Hawkins now has some movement in his arms and better stability in his core allowing him to sit up properly with assistance, LaBove said.
“This is a lifelong process,” LaBove said about Hawkins’ recovery time. “Your body is a constant work in progress. So, when we’re dealing with something like Jordyn, this is a lifelong goal. The top of the mountain is walking again, but on the way to that top of the mountain is all the things that are going to benefit you day to day.”
Focus is on small victories
Despite the ups and downs, the family is focusing on the small victories.
Hawkins, who has four siblings, taught himself how to play Xbox, even without the use of his hands. Hawkins is homeschooled two days a week.
The teen is also learning how to feed himself. With all the time spent together, Hawkins and Wade have also gotten closer.
Wade said that they’ve been trying to keep him safe during the pandemic because they know if he contracted COVID-19, he may not be able to fight off the illness. A few of Hawkins’ friends still come over.
Hawkins also likes to watch college football and root for Texas A&M. The girls are still around “unfortunately,” Wade chides.
Still, sometimes it hits Wade what her son is missing. She wants him to be a normal teen.
“Sometimes, I get sad about that,” Wade said. “He’s not experiencing what a 16-year-old kid is experiencing. But it’s modified.”
In the beginning, there were a couple days when Hawkins shed tears, and he described how “everything” is harder than it was, even preparing to leave the house.
“I’ve had fantasies about me going to the NFL and everything,” Hawkins said. “It just didn’t work.”
“He’s still playful,” said Wade. “He still jokes around. The smile — that never stopped.”
LaBove has also noticed Hawkins’ joyful spirit.
“This is a pretty big life-altering injury, and (it) seems to me like he’s stayed pretty positive and pretty level-headed about it,” he said. “He hasn’t let it overwhelm him yet.”
Hawkins’ hopes haven’t changed since he was injured. The family is still praying for a miracle.
The teen plans to walk again and hopes to be a lawyer.
His advice for others: “Just keep believing.”