By Morgan Taylor, Reporter
HOLDENVILLE, Oklahoma – KJ Dyer was born a healthy a baby boy with two arms, two legs, and two eyes. About six months ago, Dyer was in an accident that would change his and his family’s life. It was a brush hogging accident that took one of Dyer’s legs after falling under the farm equipment and suffered traumatic injuries.
According to his mother Chelsea Dyer, the accident was traumatic for the whole family.
“As a parent, those things that happened that day never leave your head,” Chelsea said. “Accidents can happen so fast even to the most attentive parents.”
After the accident, Dyer had to spend about a month in the hospital where he received nine surgeries including a traumatic amputation on his leg. He was treated for a broken elbow, broken leg, broken pelvis, and multiple screws and plates.
During this time, community members were fundraising for the family and made shirts for the boy that had the superman logo with “KJ” in the center.
“The month was rough,” Chelsea said emotionally. “But everything went fine and KJ ended up being well.”
“By the end of December everything was healed and he was ready for a prosthetic leg.”
The family went to Scott Sabolich Prosthetics in OKC to get Dyer fitted for his leg. Little did the family know, they would run into eight-time Paralympic Track and Filed international medalist Blake Leeper.
As Leeper was getting fitted for his prosthetic legs, he noticed two year old Dyer struggling as he was trying his new leg out for the first time.
Leeper took it upon himself to help cheer for little Dyer. A video posted on the Instagram of the athlete encouraging Dyer went viral; reaching news outlets like ABC, NBC, and ESPN.
In the video, standing at the other end of the hallway, the athlete bounced on his prosthetics telling Dyer, “Im ready for you,” and “You can do it.”
“When KJ got to meet Blake Leeper he was inspiration and got to see that there were other people just like him,” Chelsea said. “It definitely made him more comfortable because at first he was hesitant.”
According to his mother, once the family returned home from the hospital they would remind Dyer of Leeper to help keep him motivated to use his prosthetic.
Just six months after the accident, Dyer is a normal boy who runs, climbs, and plays. “He loves to play t-ball,” Chelsea said. “Its just a normal day with a toddler.”
Chelsea also says that Dyer is starting to put his prosthetic on by himself in the mornings.
“I just hope that he never feels like he has a disability because he can do whatever he wants to do,” Chelsea adds. “I hope he can inspire people in that way. We are just so thankful he is here with us today and all that he lost was a foot and calf.”
Videos of Dyer and Paralympic athlete Blake Leeper can be viewed on ABC News Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjtbJ90KThI.
