Paralympic sprinter Nick Mayhew’s life changed forever when he was 14. He had trouble moving the left side of his body and one day had a grand mal seizure, losing consciousness and experiencing violent contractions.
An MRI revealed that he has cerebral palsy, the result of a stroke he had suffered while in the womb that created a “blind spot” on the left side of his brain, affecting motor function on that side.
“I was rushed to the hospital and my aunt, grandparents, parents and brother were there and it was really scary,” Mayhew, 28, said on NBC Sports’ “My New Favorite Paralympian” podcast.
He said his and his family’s biggest concern was whether he would survive and stay healthy.
After doctors gave him the clean bill of health, he wondered whether he’d be able to continue with his passion for the sport, but the thought of not competing was not even a possibility, his father, Scott Mayhew, said.
Para track and field athlete Nick Mayhew attends the Team USA 2024 Media Summit in New York on April 17. Mike Coppola/Getty Images File
“I remember Nick turning around, I got up, Nick’s mom got up, and Nick was looking at me,” Mayhew said. “And he said, ‘No way. There’s no way I’m not going to continue playing sports. No way, Dad. No way.'”
One of Nick’s doctors told him that playing sports might be a “bit of a stretch,” but that with a little training he could probably do it.
Those words were enough for him to pursue soccer, the sport he had dreamed of playing for years. A childhood goal of making the U.S. Men’s Soccer National Team evolved into making the U.S. Paralympic Team, a goal he achieved in 2017.
Mayhew credits her family for “not feeling sorry for me”, which she says has strengthened her self-confidence.
Two years later, he helped the team win its first bronze medal at the Parapan American Games and was named U.S. Disabled Soccer Player of the Year.
Mayhew next turned his attention to the Paralympics, but soccer was not included in the events planned for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so he changed focus again, this time training as a sprinter. He qualified, won three gold medals and set a world record.
But the victory was clouded when the family learned that Mayhew’s grandmother, Shirley Culpeper Mayhew, had been diagnosed several years earlier with ALS, a terminal neurodegenerative disease that affects muscle function, and frontotemporal dementia, which can alter a person’s behavior and lead to memory loss.
United States athlete Nick Mayhew (center) runs for victory in the men’s T37 200m final at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Sept. 4, 2021. Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press File
By the time the family realized, the disease had already progressed. Scott Mayhew said he was devastated by his mother’s diagnosis.
“It’s a difficult one because she was the centerpiece of the whole family,” he said.
Within six months, Mayhew’s grandmother was hospitalized in a coma. On Mayhew’s 19th birthday, he and his father were at her bedside when a doctor told them, “She’s not doing well.”
Scott McHugh turned to his mother and said, “Listen, you can’t go to Nick’s birthday.”
She held out until the next day.
“My mother held out for me right up until the very end, she heard my father and she knew she had to hold out,” McHugh said. “The fact that she did that is a testament to who she was as a grandmother and as a woman.”
Three years later, his grandfather, Bill Mayhew, also passed away.
Mayhew said he continues to be inspired by his grandparents, and hopes to emulate his grandfather’s broadcasting past and become a broadcaster himself.
As for his grandmother, he is following in her footsteps in the fashion world: in 2022, Nick was asked to appear in Hugo Boss’ rebranding fashion show and has been involved in numerous other fashion campaigns.
“This was her life,” he said, “and I think she would be so happy to have met the women that I’ve met and the people that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. I know she’s watching over me with great pride.”