In 2009, Phoenix was badly abused by his mother’s boyfriend. Broken bones, liver damage, and partially paralyzed on his left side. The boyfriend was sent to prison for 10 years and the biological mom was sent to jail for 10-months for failure to protect Phoenix. Phoenix was in Phoenix Children’s Hospital for 3-weeks in rehabilitation. When he was released, to his aunt (mom’s sister), he had MANY issues. Read more below.
Coach Ray Woodbury
Phoenix had some severe injuries at the age 3 that required parts of his skull to be removed and now has a plate in his head. It also cause him to have to relearn everything over again at this point in his life. He does receive specialized instruction at school but is able to play and communicate with his peers. He is currently on our Flag Football team at the school and is a phenomenal kid with a great heart and work ethic.
Backstory
On April 28th, 2010, Phoenix Asher Wise (born April, 2007) came to me because I was fostering his sister Tully. Tully came to me at 3-months old and when the case worker set her car seat down, I asked him if she had any siblings that I needed to keep in touch with. The worker told me that her brother was in his second brain surgery of the day and was not expected to make it through the night. Phoenix had been thrown into a tube big-screen TV by his aunt earlier in the day. He was dead when the paramedics showed up and was being sent to Phoenix Children’s Hospital for organ donation. When he arrived, the same team of doctors was working on him from the year before and was not going to let him die. When I heard that his birthday was the next day, I went to visit him with his baby sister. He was in the PICU and was full of tubes head to toe. Phoenix was tremoring and when his sister started babbling, his tremors stopped. I vowed to be there everyday for him no matter what. For the next five weeks, I was there for MULTIPLE surgeries, all of his rehab sessions (eating, physical, occupational, music and recreational therapies) and draining of his head, fluid in the brain, daily. When he came home, he was without his skull for many months. He had to wear a helmet whenever he left the house. Phoenix could walk but could not talk. We were not sure how his vision was going to be. He was 24 pounds at 3 years old; but boy did he have spunk.
Over the years, Phoenix has had MANY more surgeries. He had his skull put back in, he had a shunt failure, and he had titanium put over his skull after he suffered from many seizures. Phoenix has low IQ because of his brain injury. He spends a good part of his day with the resource teacher. He is a very good athlete but his size makes it difficult to play at a higher level. Phoenix is the BEST big brother. He is sweet and helpful and just a wonderful kid.
