But the miracle was not that this young man with no legs took home a medal. He also was 10th in single skulls, a rowing event in which he finished fourth in the Rio paralympics four years ago. Medals on the water!
Congrats to sblakehaxton on his silver in canoe sprint VL2! TokyoParalympics pic. When I walked into the hospital waiting room in March of , the first person I saw was Marshall Hayden, senior minister of the church to which both Blake's family and I belonged.
Many churches have prayer chains, communiques shared with members that are typically dominated by people's physical challenges. Blake, who for the first time had been in the same class I was in the previous Sunday, had his name on the list along with several others.
But that seeming routine mention quickly grew more serious with subsequent updates, causing me to sneak up to the hospital over my lunch break. Blake's parents, Steve and Heather, quickly brought me up to date.
Blake had played in a rec league basketball tournament, and came away with a mysterious sore spot on his leg. As it grew worse he went to his doctor, who quickly dispatched him to a hospital emergency room, where he sat for hours as medical folks tried to figure out what was wrong with him. Long-story short: They finally discovered he had necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as flesh-eating disease, They amputated part of his leg, but that didn't stop the spread.
So they removed a little more. Then a little more. Steve pulled me off to one side and asked a haunting question: "How much longer do I let them cut on my boy? When the doctors came into the waiting area and gathered the parents and the minister into a side room, we could only imagine the gravity of the private discussion. A church leader gathered the small group of friends and church members present into a circle right there in the middle of the lobby. We held hands and cried as he desperately started to pray, "Oh, God, if you've got a miracle in you, we need one right now No miracle materialized immediately.
Ross Heart Hospital most of the one leg was gone. At first, the goal was to simply keep him alive for another few hours until his older brother, Anderson, could get home from college in New Jersey. The bacteria attacked the other leg, and soon it also had to be removed. He was put in an induced coma placed on a ECMO machine — the only one in Columbus at the time — that essentially took the place of his heart and lungs.
But doctors had little hope to offer family members, friends and his teammates on UA's rowing team keeping constant vigil at the hospital. The team later re-named their boat the Blake Haxton after their senior co-captain. Steve leads a team of very qualified professionals at JHBenefits. As a founder of JHBenefits, and its predecessor firm, JHB, he has over 25 years of experience managing all aspects of the qualified plan business.
His passion is helping small firms design qualified plans that help meet their retirement goals, and assisting sponsors, especially Frozen Defined Benefit Clients, navigate their unique challenges. In addition, Mr. Previously, Steve has served as Executive Vice-President of ING now Voya , a top ten worldwide financial services firm, where he was responsible for the strategic direction and management of Distribution Relationships in the U. Gary is responsible for all actuarial services provided by JHBenefits.
He leads a team of professionals in providing annual services including funding and accounting valuations, government filings, and nondiscrimination testing. He also oversees the administrative services provided to the pension plans sponsored by our clients.
He has over 30 years of experience in the retirement plan consulting business and has worked with plans of all sizes. Beyond servicing on-going plans, he has been involved in plan designs, plan re-designs, and in the various opportunities available to winding down a plan, including lump sum cashouts and annuity buyouts.
Previously, Gary worked with Mercer, Inc. She also has experience with plan terminations and annuity buyouts. She provides annual services including funding and accounting valuations, compliance review, nondiscrimination testing, and government filings for our defined benefit and defined contribution plan sponsors. Previously, Karen worked with Watson Wyatt Willis Towers Watson , Mercer, and most recently Nationwide, providing retirement plan consulting and administrative services.
Patti has significant experience managing all aspects of the qualified plan business. She oversees a team of professionals who provide the full array of document, compliance and reporting services to defined contribution clients.
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