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Football player walks on field after spinal injury
Justus Edwards suffered a life-changing spinal injury during a game in 2018. Doctors said he might never walk again, but he was determined to prove them wrong.
DANVILLE, Ky. - A college football player who suffered a life-changing spinal injury in a 2018 game has defied the odds to walk on the field where he was injured.
Justus Edwards was a sophomore at Georgia’s Berry College when he suffered the injury as he played in a game at Centre College in Kentucky.
Edwards said doctors gave him a slim chance of ever walking again, but he was determined to get back on his feet. On November 9, Edwards returned to Centre College’s Farris Stadium to walk on the spot where he was injured.
“The doctors told me I was paralyzed,” Edwards said in an address to the crowd after walking at Farris Stadium. "I told them I wasn’t. I told them that God healed. They told me I had a 20 percent chance of walking again. I told them I’m walking."
He continued, “I kept the faith. I kept believing. Every day, it was tough."
The Berry Vikings football team rallied around Edwards, and a GoFundMe page raised over $20,000 to help with the costs associated with his recovery.
“Trials and tribulations are gonna always come in this life. It’s how you look at it. Do you look at it as a defeat or an opportunity to get better?” he said.