A crowd of well-wishers welcomed Franklin High School rising junior Devyn Blackburn home after a lengthy hospital stay in Charlotte.
Blackburn’s car collided with a tractor-trailer on May 19, leaving him with five broken ribs, a broken scapula, multiple facial fractures and significant brain injuries. He’s spent most of his time since then at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte undergoing physical therapy.
“It feels good to be back,” Devyn said at the welcome home party Friday, July 3.
As a football player, a church member and a beloved member of the community, the pain of Blackburn’s accident was felt all over the Franklin area.
“I think of him as a brother,” said Tyler Harrison, a former teammate of Blackburn’s. “I’d do anything for him and I know he would do the same for me.”
Given the extent of his injuries, those closest to Blackburn were amazed by his rapid progress. In just about six weeks, he went from critical condition to being able to walk unassisted. When he arrived at his homecoming celebration on Friday, many wouldn’t have known by looking at him that he had been in an accident.
“He’ surpassed everything that the doctors expected,” Blackburn’s grandmother, Barbara Dillard, said of his recovery. “He’s still got a long way to go before he’s 100 percent, but so far, things have gone better than we could have hoped for.”
The celebration, held at the FHS football field, was intended as a surprise to congratulate Blackburn for the hard work he had put into physical therapy. As such, it had to be advertised quietly. With that limitation in mind, many attendees were surprised by the high turnout and thought it spoke to the level of support Blackburn enjoys from his hometown.
“He’s a friend, he’s a brother, he’s a son, and the fact that we can see him and that he’s back on his feet means a lot to us all,” football coach Josh Brooks said.
Devyn’s mother, Renee Blackburn, said the words of encouragement that she and her family received at the homecoming event were just the tip of the iceberg. She has done a thorough job communicating with the people of Franklin about her son’s condition via social media for the last few weeks and has seen an outpouring of both emotional and financial support to help the family get by in a desperate time.
“These people have all been here for us since the very beginning, and it means the world to us,” she said.
Blackburn said he expects that he’ll be able to play football again as a senior if he conscientiously maintains his health in his junior year, but he doesn’t have many plans beyond that. For now, he’s just glad to be surrounded by family and friends, knowing that the worst is behind him.