STRONG
LIKE ELI
HOW A CHELSEA STUDENT BEATS THE ODDS WITH FAITH AND POSITIVITY AFTER AN ACCIDENT LEFT HIM WITH A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.
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BY LAUREN H. DOWDLE | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY & CONTRIBUTED
More than a year after an accident that nearly cost Eli Hairston his life, there are three constants that have helped keep a smile on his face: his faith, family and fighting determination. With parents Jay and Leisha—along with siblings Sam, Luke and Campbell—by his side, this Chelsea High School freshman has come a long way since a golf cart accident left him with a traumatic brain injury on Nov. 16, 2019. The day of his accident started like any other for the then 13-year-old. He slept in after going to the movies with his father the night before and worked on his Christmas list when he woke up. A little after noon, he went to ride a golf cart around Chelsea Park with some fellow football players. It was just a normal Saturday. But that all changed when one of the
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boys knocked on the Hairstons’ door, letting them know Eli was in an accident. His mother, Leisha, first thought it might be a broken leg or arm until she heard the ambulance and reached the scene. Eli wasn’t talking, his pupils were fixed and the first responders were breathing for him. He was rushed to Children’s of Alabama and taken into emergency surgery to repair a bleed on the back-right side of his head. He had fractured his skull, and one of his veins was severed, causing a brain bleed. “The doctors said he wouldn’t make it if they didn’t take him back now,” Leisha remembers. Eli was in a coma for a week, which is when his parents found out he had experienced several strokes between the accident and the end of surgery. They
wouldn’t know if he would talk or have a good quality of life until after he was taken out of the coma. The doctors also warned patients with traumatic brain injuries often woke up angry, so no one was quite sure what to expect. But on Dec. 8, Eli talked. His voice was quiet at first, but now more than a year later, he talks all of the time. And he’s been nothing but joyful. “He’s been proving people wrong right and left. He’s a fighter. We are very blessed,” Leisha says. “He always has a smile on.” Of course, it has been a long journey from speaking his first words until now. Eli has had to relearn how to walk and talk, going to therapy every weekday. But, he hasn’t let his injuries or recovery slow him down.
