Lexi Vernon has been a softball star for decades, it seems… well, maybe not that long but she’s seemingly been on the national scene for years.

Even though she’s just a junior in high school, her list of outstanding softball accomplishments is as long as Santa’s “Good Kids List” and includes:

• Playing in a PGF National Championship
• Being named to the All-PGF Team
• Making the USA All-American team
• Competing for Team Italy at Colorado Sparkler
• Taking the Field in Scenic City All-Star Games

Today, she plays for the Athletics – Gold team led by Stacy Tamborra and the long-time club coach is, like most everyone who know Lexi’s story, a big fan.

“I have known Lexi since she was 10 years old,” Coach Tamborra begins. “At the young age of 10 you would never know she was dealing with the challenges this young lady faced every day. She’s a fierce competitor at the elite level of our game…and she’s always a force to recon with!”

And Lexi’s not just impressive on the field… her story, from birth to now, continues to shine radiantly.”

“The challenges she faced never dimmed her smile!” Coach Tamborra adds. “Lexi’s forever a ray of sunshine and full of joy. She inspires everyone around her even before you know her story. Once you learn of this amazing young lady’s real-life battle, your life will forever be changed, and you can’t help but be moved to tears.”

“Lexi is never a victim… she’s always a warrior and forever an inspiration!”

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Restored Hearing

Alexis “Lexi” Vernon was born profoundly deaf, but her condition wasn’t diagnosed until she was nearly a year old.

Around 11 months, it became apparent that Lexi wasn’t hearing loud sounds and wasn’t developing typical words of speech.

Her father, Kevin, would clap loudly behind her, but Lexi wouldn’t move a muscle.

Still, doctors were hesitant to forward the child and her family to specialists until Lexi was close to 14 months old. She was taken to Vanderbilt for a hearing test, but the results were surprising even to her concerned parents.

“Lexi’s audiologist said some of the most difficult words a mother could ever hear,” Jaime remembers. “He told me: ‘Lexi is profoundly deaf and has no natural sound hearing.”

However, what next came out of the doctor’s mouth was words of hope: “We think Lexi is an excellent candidate for a cochlear implant,” the physician said. “It’s a medically implanted device that can restore sound to the deaf.”

Four months later, barely a year and a half old, Lexi received cochlear implants where her surgeon, Dr. David Haybnes at Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center (who is affectionally called by the Vernon family as the “Hearing Healer”) brought the future athlete a gift that continues to this day: the gift of hearing.

Three weeks after the surgery, Lexi’s implants were turned on for what the medical world calls an “activation day.” Her family, looks back at that life-altering day as the young baby’s “hearing birthday.”

Amazingly, her mother remembers, Lexi had never heard a sound.

“She had never heard the lullabies that I sang to her every single night as she squirmed and turned and cried because she didn’t hear me. For 14 months I had no idea why.”

The date is etched forever on the family’s calendar: July 31, 2010—more than 14 years ago—when Lexi started receiving signals instead of sound waves, but still was gifted with hearing.

In a summary that is poetic and will wet the eyes of any parent, the mother acknowledged:

“At 21-months-old, Lexi finally heard my lullaby! Her head fell on my shoulder, and we connected. At that point, I knew she would enjoy one of the most joyful gifts life has to offer: hearing music… for the rest of her life.”

*****

Here’s the powerful video clip of Lexi hearing for the first time:

Still, it wasn’t easy and that wasn’t the end of the journey of learning and adapting.

Lexi would get frustrated with her cochlear implant processors (on the outside of her skull) and throw them.

“Lexi had to work hard to learn to talk and sound like normal hearing children,” her mother remembers. “We made her work hard to hear on her own and then say words and use spoken language according to what she hears, and not just by what she sees (lipreading).”

Today, Lexi is an accomplished pitcher and utility player who has shined at the club and school levels equally.

In middle school, Lexi went 10-0 in the circle and in 50 innings had 130 strikeouts—an average of more than two and a half per inning.

For Franklin (Tenn.) High, as a freshman, she batted .529 and helped her team win a championship thanks to her pitching arm.

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A Terrifying Scare This Month

The junior was on the radar on several collegiate programs and when Sept. 1, 2024, rolled around, she received phone calls from coaches at programs such as Ohio State, Lipscomb, Marshall, and Miami of Ohio, among others.

Unfortunately, a shoulder injury from years ago caused Lexi to lose velocity in her pitching and her shoulder began to pop out of socket in games from overuse.

The tough call was made in early October to have surgery which included inserting four anchors. Understandably, college recruiters wanted to see that the pitcher was recovered from her shoulder clean-up.

“The blow was a lot,” the athlete’s mother recalls. “Lexi overcame it and was on her way back and was close to being cleared to throw again. She was crushing it in physical therapy.”

Then came, perhaps, the scariest incident in the young softball players life.

Earlier this month—on Saturday, December 7, 2024—the teen athlete had a sudden and intense headache, and, by Sunday, she felt like something was painfully irritating her eyes.

Terrifyingly, on Monday she was at school and, over the course of three hours, lost the vision in her left eye. After consulting with an Ophthalmologist, Lexi was sent to the local hospital ER for an emergency MRI, but she couldn’t get an MRI without special work being done because of magnets in Lexi’s skull.

“This put me over the edge,” Jaime admits. “Lexi couldn’t get through it because it was so painful—it would have been a three-hour MRI and she wouldn’t have been sedated. She was trying her best but it was so, so much.”

More tests were ordered including the teen having a spinal tap and bloodwork done before she was admitted last Friday—scarily enough, Friday the 13^th.

The diagnosis came back with a shocking report the athlete’s mom said she will remember for the rest of her life.:

“The doctors said Lexi was legally blind in her left eye.”

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Battery of Tests

Quickly, Lexi received a surgically administered port for “some pretty intense treatments” which included starting steroids and beginning a process called PLEX where the athlete’s blood was extracted, spun and processed to get rid of antibodies.

The early prognosis wasn’t promising as Lexi was unresponsive to the medical treatments and her vision was unchanged.

“It was absolutely heartbreaking,” Lexi’s mother continues. “The Neurologist told us, ‘We have to be aggressive because we don’t want her to be deaf and blind.”

“I cry when I stop for a minute,” the mother continues. “It hits me in waves and it’s just been hard.”

Lexi was facing an MRI this week but there was a concern: with magnets in her head, there were risks to getting the procedure done.

Her cochlear implant surgeon, Dr. David Haynes, was called in and quickly saw a dangerous possibility: the medical expert pointed out that an MRI would be too dangerous to attempt

Lexi’s mother recounts:

“Dr. Haynes said they if they (the doctors) had gone thru with the MRI, it could have literally pulled her magnets out of her head and it would have been so bad!”

As this week proceeded, the athlete continued to have PLEX and Plasma treatments as well as IV steroids to see how she responded.

The process was exhausting, Jaime admits.

“Lexi is so wiped out and swollen from the steroids and fluids. It’s been just so much on her body over the past two years.”

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Easing the Burden of Lexi’s Medical Bills

As hard as the last few weeks have been—and it’s not just that the family has had to watch Lexi suffer and struggle with her eyesight—there have been serious financial hits as well.

The medical bills out of pocket have surpassed $10,000 and Jaime added: “I have to go thru the Obamacare exchange so it’s expensive and the deductibles and out of pocket costs are tough.”

Still, there have been uplifting and comforting moments as well.

A friend of the family, Matt Schultz, who calls himself “Patton Claus, the Furry Filanthropist” on Face and X/Twitter (@patton_claus), heard about Lexi’s situation and started a GoFundMe to help offset the family’s increasing medical costs.

Over the past four years, “Patton Claus” has raised over $50,000 for sports families in crisis, most often softball families, without taking a cut or commission.

Explained Shultz, the GoFundMe creator:

“The goal is to help the family cover out of pocket medical expenses for these past few months and when the benefits clock resets in two weeks. One hundred percent of the donations will go directly to the family.”

Hello Frens of Furry Filanthropy!!

Please take look and help this resilient softball player and her family deal with an incredible challenge this Christmas.

https://t.co/rLjIHIJuoC

— The Furry Filanthropist (@Patton_Claus) December 17, 2024

With a goal of $2,500 to be raised, as of Friday afternoon (Dec. 20), 35% or $878 through 13 donations, was pledged including a $300 donation by an anonymous donor.

Anyone wanted to help the athlete and her family can donate by clicking HERE.

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Coming Home… & Facing the Future

Thursday night the family received surprisingly good news: after another round of tests and treatments, Lexi was allowed to go home from the hospital.

“Her vision is good for now,” the athlete’s happy mother said, “and we are watching and waiting on more test results. Still, Lexi’s so wiped out and swollen from all the steroids and fluids she’s been given.”

Earlier today (Friday, Dec. 20), the teen’s mother reported a conversation with the neurologist and the family was cautiously optimistic, knowing they weren’t yet out of the woods.

“There are some things we’re watching with her extremities and such,” Jaime explained. “We still haven’t received answers or test results that indicate something definitive so we’re ready for that.”

So what is keeping the athlete and her family persevering through such uncertain times, especially over the holidays?

“For me,” the athlete’s mother begins, “I think it’s truly remarkable how much Lexi’s cochlear implants and ability to hear have changed her life—especially at a time like this. It’s nothing short of a miracle.”

“But what really stands out to me is the mental and emotional side of her journey as an athlete,” Jaime says of her daughter. “Everything she had worked for was put on pause overnight with her shoulder injury—which is now really healthy and strong—and yet, she perseveres through it all.”

“Lexi’s faced a previous ankle surgery, and now this new challenge of blindness in one eye—those highs and lows are part of every athlete’s journey. But when you’re a pitcher, or any athlete, there’s an added level of pressure on your mental and emotional well-being.”

The athlete’s mother says she’s proud of how the student-athlete has handled not just the recent risk of vision loss, but her hearing issues at birth.

“Lexi works incredibly hard not just in softball but in her honors and AP classes, too. The effort she puts into understanding and excelling academically, despite her hearing barrier, is awe-inspiring. Lexi’s hearing loss is invisible to most people, so navigating that can be challenging as teachers and peers may not always understand what she’s going through.”

The teenager has lived a life of overcoming trials and her mother believes it has shaped Lexi’s resilience in profound ways.

“We invest in her mental and emotional health just as much as we do her physical training and rehab, Jaime explains. “Lexi’s natural resilience is a true gift, one that’s come from her own unique story.”

And for young athletes who are facing similar situations, Jaime says that having the right medical help is crucial.

“I would also say to any parent of an athlete to please take the time to find the right therapist when your child is facing tough challenges.”

“In Brentwood (Tenn.), we found a therapist who specializes in working with athletes, and it’s been a game changer for Lexi. She feels more comfortable speaking up, advocating for herself, and ensuring her voice is heard in decisions. This is a gift that will help her for a lifetime.”

And what does Lexi have to say about her medical journeys? She points to her faith as being crucial to her growth and development in life.

“It’s been a difficult time with all the treatments and surgeries,” Lexi admits, “but one thing I know for sure is that God has everything under control. He will use this experience for anyone else who is struggling and doesn’t know where to turn for answers.”

The softball standout says she would love to help someone who faces a similarly uncertain medical prognosis.

“I can be a friend and someone they can lean on. Also, when it comes to your health, I feel it’s crucial to always trust your gut. No one knows your body like you do.”

And through it all, Lexi says she’s grateful for all those who have been there for her.

“Thanks to everyone who has reached out or shared my story,” she concludes. “I’m so thankful for our close softball community!”

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball