NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal and Papa John’s executives CEO Roby Lynch and Chairman Jeff Smith gave the family of a paralyzed victim a home to call their own after hearing the emotional story of Isaiah Payton.
The 12-year-old football athlete has been in the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite since August. Doctors approved his release from the hospital on Monday.
Previously, Payton couldn’t go home because the one-bedroom apartment his family lived in didn’t have the appropriate accommodations for people with disabilities.
“I was watching the story and it’s just sad. It could have been any one of us. It could have been my son. It could’ve been your cousin, and she was living in a one-bedroom apartment with her two boys, so we found her a house in College Park. Nice area,” O’Neal said on WXIA.
With their new home in Clayton County, they will have more space and the essentials for Payton’s comfort. O’Neal went the extra mile and paid the rent for the one-story house for an entire year.
“I’m going to pay her rent for the year and I’m going to give her some furniture,” O’Neal said. “It’s sad because her son is paralyzed from the chest down and no mother should have to go through that.”
Payton, along with another innocent bystander, was hit by a stray bullet during a shooting after a football game at Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta. The bullet went through Payton’s spine, paralyzing him from the chest down. Damean Spear, 15, the other victim, was shot in the leg, but recovered and was released from the hospital.
O’Neal has been on a mission to bring awareness to gun violence. In past years, the LA Lakers legend has paid for funerals of teen victims of gun violence to help families who are traumatized by the growing epidemic.
