PARIS, Ky. (LEX 18) — These days, Duron Adams practically lives at the gym.
His physical fitness has become a source of pride.
“I used to do six days a week but now I’ve got it down to three. I do every workout it takes someone six or seven days to do in three,” Adams said.
Adams has dealt with his bouts of body dysmorphia, not appreciating the work he’s put in.
A mindset stemmed from recovery after suffering a traumatic brain injury.
“Walking is a little different. Anything really using my right arm. I have about 21% mobility in my right arm,” Adams said.
In 2018, Adams was in a bad car wreck, putting him in a coma and leaving doctors to tell his family he likely wouldn’t survive.
Even if he did live, medical professionals said he’d never walk or talk again.
“As a parent, when you see, for the first time, you’re kid is hooked up to all of these machines and not knowing if he’s going to live or die. They told me within the next 24-48 hours, you need to think about pulling the plug,” Adams’s mother, Cheryl Lopez, said.
“He’s just a miracle. He’s a good kid, but he’s just a miracle.”
Adams proved doctors wrong in every way.
Six years later, he’s alive and well, talking clearly and walking freely despite limitations on his right side.
While Adams has no memory of the accident or much of his recovery due to short-term memory loss, he is motivated to continue pushing past what people told him were limitations.
“I just look at it like it’s a random part of a movie. It doesn’t seem real to me. Looking at that, it just pushes me forward to get better,” Adams said.
That determination has carried over into helping others as well.
Duron’s Journey was started a couple of years ago, a nonprofit aimed at bringing awareness to traumatic brain injuries and supporting families of those living with them.
“Every family should not have to go through this alone. I don’t want a family that I know or people I don’t know to struggle and say, ‘I need some help, and there’s nobody to help me,’” Lopez said.
Adams hopes his story can inspire people and show them that their trauma doesn’t need to be a death sentence.
He wanted to take advantage of his second chance at life.
“With all these challenges I face, I turn around and complete two or three things I was told I would never do,” Adams said.
“If I can do that, other people should grasp from that ‘I can do it too.’”
If you want to learn more about Duron’s Journey, click here.
