A former high school football player seriously injured three years ago stood for the first time at the football field he once played at for the national anthem Friday night, Local 12 reported.
A large truck struck Wesley Baker in July 2013 as he walked on Highway 701 in Conway, South Carolina. Baker lost one of his legs and became brain damaged among other injuries.
Baker’s mother Debra Phipps said that her son barely survived but after hard work managed to stand for the playing of the national anthem at the Conway High School football game for the first time at the field since the accident.
“It feels like a dream. I’ve asked God for three years… when his accident took place I said, ‘God please let my son walk again and talk again,’ and day by day, he’s shown me miracles,” Phipps said.
Athletes from the NFL to the high school level have protested the “Star Spangled Banner” by either sitting out, kneeling or giving a black power salute in the past few weeks. Baker’s mother sees the issue differently.
“Wesley, he’s worked hard, he’s lost his leg and he had a right to sit down, but now God is giving him the strength to stand up, and we all need to stand up for America,” she later added.