Edmond runner doesn’t let his cerebral palsy stop him from lacing up

By Jason Burger

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    EDMOND, Oklahoma (KOCO) — An Edmond runner doesn’t let his cerebral palsy keep him from lacing up.

His name is Jack, he is 14 years old, and he has cerebral palsy, but his mom said he fits in with the other children on the team just fine.

Jack said when he crosses the finish line, he feels happy. He won’t stop until he gets to the finish line.

All week, Jack practices for his races. His mom sent KOCO 5 some videos while competing on the cross-country team at Heartland Middle School in Edmond.

“A video of Jack and four or five of his teammates finishing a race he had started. As the race progressed, it was teammate after teammate, and by the end, the entire team finished the race with him,” said Tiffany Porter, Jack’s mom.

Tiffany’s husband sent her the videos of Jack’s teammates, who had finished the race themselves, but then ran back to get to the finish line with Jack. They went the extra distance they didn’t have to run, which is something Tiffany credits Coach Mitch Parker for instilling in them.

“They may never know the impact they’ve had on us so. I just want to say thank you to them,” Tiffany said.

The same coach, who gave Jack a chance in the sport, gave him a chance to compete with children who have zero disabilities.

“He just said, ‘I’d love to have him.’ But he told him he wasn’t going to take it easy on him, he would be out there with all the other kids, and would be running and practicing with them,” Tiffany said.

Jack is thinking about competing in high school and he also plays soccer. With the help of his team, he’s getting better, finishing race after race.

“Yesterday, he ran in a second race that was the longest he’s ever gone, which was two miles,” Tiffany said.

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