COVINGTON, Ga. — After mysteriously collapsing, a 15-year-old basketball player from Covington is back in school and on the court.
Doctors said they still don't know what exactly made Payton Hudgins so sick. His family believes there was a purpose to his medical mystery.
"Even if worse came to worse and they were like, you'll live, but you'll be paralyzed from the waist down, I would be out here in a wheelchair playing basketball. That was never going to change," Payton said.
The sound of the game is a constant in his life even when words fail.
Payton's parents were watching him play in the championship game on Feb. 10, when they noticed something was off.
"We celebrated, took pictures, and I sat down, and then couldn't get back up. I couldn't feel my legs anymore. I don't remember. All of my memory is gone," Payton said.
However, his parents remember all too well. Payton collapsed and had a seizure.
"It was hard to not know what was going to be. It was hard to not be in control of what was going to be," Payton's mom Amanda Hudgins said.
He was rushed to a local hospital, then flown to the children's hospital without much hope.
"When we first got to the hospital, the first person we met was the chaplain, which is not the first person you want to meet, in my opinion," Payton's dad Justin Hudgins said.
The doctors didn't know if they could save Payton. He tested positive for COVID-19 and the flu but they couldn't figure out what else was going on.
"She was just blunt. I want to let you know this is very serious. He might die. And as a parent, you're like, 'Did I just hear that?'," Justin said.
Payton was in a coma for 10 days. The tests were all inconclusive. And then, he opened his eyes.
"I felt fine when I woke up, it was like waking up from a nap," he said.
He was still on a ventilator and couldn't speak but he tried to write a message to his mom. He tried to write: I love you.
"He is infamous for doing this (heart) and so he was doing it with one hand, and when the nurse and I realized he was saying, 'I love you', we were both crying," Amanda said.
It was just a matter of fact for Payton– he remembered he loved his parents just as well as he remembered everything else.
"They were trying to teach me how to brush my teeth, and I was like, that's funny, but I know how to do it," he said.
He remembered how to play basketball, too.
"So first chance I got, I was in the therapy room, playing on a little hoop. This high off the ground with a therapist," he said.
After 19 days in the ICU, he was cleared to go home. A week after that, he was back on the court.
"There's not a doctor in there who could tell you what was wrong with me or why this happened. So, they were just as confused as we were," he said.
Doctors don't have a diagnosis for Payton or understand why it happened but his family believes it happened for a reason.
"The way he's already touched people's lives without saying a word," Amanda said.
After watching him back on the court again, they believe his recovery is a miracle. They're very grateful, he's back home.
"I'm ok, I'm at home, I'm at school, I am living life again," Payton said.
Payton said he'll be ready to play next season and wants to get back out there with his team.
However, he has to get his strength back up first.
He lost 28 pounds in the ICU. His dad joked the only thing he left the hospital with was an appetite.