GOSHEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A boy from Goshen Township played in his first football game Saturday. The community got to see him score a touchdown to open the game, as his team cheered him on.
Years before, doctors diagnosed Cayden Tudor, who goes by CJ, with a rare condition called CHARGE Syndrome.
CHARGE is an acronym that stands for:
- Coloboma of the eye
- Heart defects
- Atresia of the choanae
- Restriction of Growth and development
- Ear abnormalities and deafness
On his first birthday, CJ was still at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Today, he's learning how to walk on his own.
"He's our MVP for the week," said Amanda Berry, the team mom for the Goshen Warriors 7U football game.
"It's huge for inclusivity, right, because we're constantly preaching that everyone matters everyone is important and if you start that at a young age, then everyone is included in every aspect in whatever capacity they're able to do that," Berry said.
"When we got him, he couldn't even sit up on his own," said Brooklyn Harrison, CJ's sister. "Obviously, now he's walking, he's learning sign language because he's deaf, he's thriving in school, sports."
On Saturday, with his brother Parker guiding him down the field, CJ scored a touchdown.
"It means a lot to us to see him be included and not be treated any differently," Harrison said.
She told WCPO their family adopted CJ eight months after her sister Ava died from a heart condition.
"He came to us and it just kind of seemed like she sent him to us, he needed a family as much as we needed him" Harrison said.
"CJ wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Ava passing away so to see CJ succeed the way he has is it's special," said Micaela Walker, CJ's nurse.
Walker has been with him since he was 13 months old. He was still at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
"To see him come from that little boy that was laying in a hospital bed, when we first met him to where he is today is huge," Walker said.
