T-L Photo/SETH STASKEY BARNESVILLE CLASS of 2019 graduate Cade Hannahs walks into the gym with members of his family prior to the Shamrocks basketball game against Union Local earlier this month. Hannahs suffered a spinal cord stroke in November, which has led to a lengthy rehab.

BARNESVILLE — Like so many college students, Cade Hannahs spent the night before Thanksgiving out with some buddies, having dinner, hanging out and simply catching up as their first semester of college neared completion.

Unfortunately, the night didn’t end as planned for Hannahs, a 2019 Barnesville High School graduate.

As he was eating, Hannahs simply couldn’t get comfortable and noticed some pain in his upper back.

“I really didn’t think much of it,” Hannahs said.

And why would he? After all, Hannahs is just 18 years old, was a multi-sport standout at Barnesville, played in the OVAC All-Star Football Game last July and was coming off a really solid fall season for the Bethany College baseball team.

None of that mattered, however.

Hannahs was beginning to embark on something he could have never dreamed about.

By the time, Hannahs arrived at his home, what started as discomfort and noticeable back pain had led him to needing assistance back into his home.

“I got home and couldn’t walk,” Hannahs recalled. “My buddy helped me into the house and onto the couch, but then I couldn’t stand up. My left leg wasn’t working. I sat back down and called for my parents (Chris and Rachel), who came down to help me to my room.”

Once it was realized that Hannahs’ condition wasn’t improving, Rachel Hannahs called the emergency squad, which transported Cade to Wheeling Hospital where it ran multiple tests and scans and led to doctors to originally believe it was “Guillain-Barre Syndrome.”

Wanting to run further tests and realizing time was of the essence, Hannahs was transported to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh where additional tests and MRIs were performed.

It was then officially determined that Hannahs had suffered a spinal cord stroke.

“Cade didn’t have control of his left leg (when we arrived at the hospital) and by the time he came back from his scans, he had lost his left arm and right leg,” Rachel said. “Once (the neurologist in Pittsburgh) told us it was a spinal cord stroke, it took my husband and I couple of days to even process it. Just nothing made sense, especially sitting there and watching my 18-year-old son basically revert back to an infant state with his body. His mind, heart and lungs were good, but physically, he was just lying there.”

With the official diagnosis, Hannahs, who had already told his parents that he would walk again, got additional motivation when a member of his medical team delivered some blunt news.

“Almost all of my doctors were very positive and optimistic, but one doctor talked to me for not even two minutes and he said, ‘you may be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life,'” Hannahs recalled. “I let that go in one ear and out the other, but it definitely made me mad and served as motivation.”

The motivation was needed almost immediately because Cade began rehabilitation basically immediately. He underwent four days of general rehab and then was transferred to UPMC Mercy to begin a spinal rehabilitation program. All told, the entire process covered six weeks.

During the therapy sessions, which lasted four hours, Cade underwent two hours of physical therapy and two hours of occupational therapy.

“UPMC Mercy had an amazing staff that really pushed me to my limits,” Cade said. “The staff was always positive, never pessimistic and provided me everything I needed.”

On Jan. 11, Cade and his family were sent home from UPMC Mercy. Though home, Cade still has a long way to go. He began intense physical therapy in Marietta last Monday, had a session on Friday and will amp to up to three days a week moving forward.

“They haven’t given me any kind of time frame on how long it might be,” Cade said. “I will be there until I no longer need neurotherapy. When I no longer need that, I’ll be able to do therapy closer to home.”

***

Just a few days after getting back to Barnesville, Cade and his family were greeted with a standing ovation at the nearly sold out boys basketball game between the Shamrocks and rival Union Local.

Both teams lined the court prior to the junior varsity game and Hannahs — with the help of a walker — came into the gymnasium and went to his seat in the front row.

That show of support was basically the culmination of support Barnesville, Belmont County and the entire Ohio Valley have shown for Cade and his family.

“When it first happens, you never expect (the support) like I received,” Cade said. “You know your family and really close friends will be there for you, but when you’re seeing other schools and communities it’s really special. I mean Barnesville and Union Local are rivals and don’t get along in sports, but everyone came together for this. It’s just been overwhelming.”

Along with the support at the game, both schools have held fundraisers, created ‘Niner Strong’ t-shirts and social media pushes.

Hannahs remembers sitting in his room at UPMC Mercy one day and hearing a knock on the door. He looked up and saw four members of the Union Local basketball team — Hunter McCort, Dakota Hess, Carter Loase and Trey Rex — waiting outside to visit.

“I never would have imagined those guys taking time out to drive up to Pittsburgh to visit me,” Cade admitted. “It just means the world to me.”

A ‘Niner Strong’ Facebook page was started and currently has more than 1,800 people subscribed to the page, which the family utilized to update folks on Cade’s situation and progress.

“A few of my friends approached me about the page and we were open with basically everything that was happening,” Rachel said. “We knew everyone cared and wanted to know what was going on. We wanted the truth to be out there.”

A few other family friends installed a new sidewalk at the Hannahs’ home in Tacoma to make it easier for Cade to get to and from the car.

Rachel pointed out that Cade and the entire family have received “hundreds of cards” just to let them know people were thinking of them.

“It’s so overwhelming and humbling,” Rachel said. “We would have never been able to get through this without that support.”

Cade also expressed his appreciation to what the Bethany baseball team and entire school community has done for him, too.

“My teammates and coaches have been there throughout the entire thing,” Cade said. “One day, the President of Bethany College (Tamara Nichols Rodenburg) came to visit me when she was in Pittsburgh for something else. I don’t think you’d get that (support) in too many places.”

Speaking of Bethany baseball, Hannahs has been told by medical professionals that he could get back to as good as 99 percent by the time he wraps up his therapy.

With that in mind, Hannahs does have hopes to return to the baseball field with the Bison for the 2021 season.

“The coaches have told me they’ll have a roster spot for me,” Cade said. “We message back and forth and they know (playing again) is the ultimate goal. Academically, I took as many credits as I could during the fall, so I won’t fall too far behind.”

Rachel, fighting back emotion, summarized her son, quite simply by saying, “he’s pretty awesome.”