Back to school on wheels: Union City boy with rare disorder knows no limits

UNION CITY, Tenn. — We introduced you to Hudson Hayes earlier this year. He is a 6-year-old living with a disorder that no one else in the world has been diagnosed with.

He has a very rare skeletal dysplasia syndrome, with a defect in the B3GAT3 gene. His parents say he is the only one in the world who is confirmed to have his certain mutation.

Because of the mutation, Hudson has a number of side effects including joint dislocations, soft bones and scoliosis, which prevent him from walking on his own, but that doesn’t keep him from going to school.

Just after 9 a.m. on Tuesdays, Hudson makes his way from therapy back to his classroom.

For most kids, the distance wouldn’t be a challenge, but it’s an uphill climb for Hudson every day.

“Hudson is just setting a good example the whole time, because he could have something to complain about,” Hudson’s first grade teacher Mallory Powers said. “He’s not going to complain about anything. He is happy to be here and wants to do everything that everybody else is doing.”

Hudson’s teachers say his disability is more like a super ability to change the lives around him, and his fellow classmates learn just as much from him as he does from them.

“He can do, and he demands to do and be like everyone else,” Director of Special Ed Laney Rogers said.

Rogers has been a part of Hudson’s journey since preschool, watching him make big strides to independence.

“But to see him be 3 years old coming to class maybe two days a week to now being in a first grade classroom with basically no extra supports other than just physically moving him whenever he needs — it’s a good day,” she said.

Even though Hudson faces unique challenges, they don’t even phase him. He finds his own way.

“He wants to do just like every other kid on the playground, in the classroom, and he figures out a way to get around his disability, and he figures out how to get there and do it,” Hudson’s mom, Michelle, said.

His family posts regular updates on their Hope for Hudson Facebook page.

If you would like to donate to Hudson’s cause and help with his expenses, there are numerous ways the family receives donations.

1) Any donor can mail checks or cash to the West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation, 620 Skyline Drive, Jackson, TN 38301

If it is a check, they need to denote the fund name on the memo line, which is Hudson’s Hope Fund.

If it is cash, they need to include the donor information and the fund name on a note.

2) The donor can go online to www.wth.org/foundation/give. The donor will need to fill in everything that has a red asterisk.

Beside “Designation,” the donor needs to use the drop-down arrow and type the fund name, “Hudson’s Hope.”

Simply click submit, and a receipt will be emailed to the donor.

3) The donor can also visit the West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation office located at 74 Directors Row in Jackson.