Shriners Children’s Lexington Patient Is Youngest Player on U.S. Wheelchair Rugby Team

Shriners Children’s Lexington patient Zion built connections within the nonprofit healthcare system that will last a lifetime.

His mother, Heather, credits Shriners Children’s with giving her son the education and opportunities to discover his passions, including wheelchair athletics. The 18-year-old is now set to depart for the 2024 Paralympics, where he will compete as the youngest member of the United States wheelchair rugby team.

Zion was born in China with ectrodactyly, a genetic condition that caused him to have just one finger on each hand and one toe on each foot. He had no problem walking while growing up, but continuously broke his toes, leading to constant pain. His mother chose Shriners Children’s, where they amputated both of his feet when he was 6 years old. Zion underwent three surgeries in Lexington and developed a great relationship with his doctor, pediatric orthopedic surgeon Ryan Muchow, M.D. He now exercises great mobility with both prosthetics and wheelchairs while no longer having to deal with the pain of repeatedly broken toes.

“The care at Shriners Children’s was so personalized,” Zion’s mom said. “It was such a magical experience for us there. Zion loved walking around in the facility where he could play basketball, talk to other amputees and build relationships with the Shriners Children’s staff. When Dr. Muchow communicated with us, he did so with such grace and love and just compassion. He was a superhero to me.”

When the U.S. wheelchair rugby team named Zion to the Paris 2024 team, he was the youngest player ever named to the Paralympic rugby squad at just 17 years old. He played both wheelchair basketball and rugby growing up, but he grew to love the intense physicality of rugby and quickly excelled at the sport. From starting rugby at 9 years old, Zion has catapulted onto the scene and will now head to Paris in search of a gold medal.

“Shriners Children’s gave us the education and opportunities to learn about adaptive sports and what all Zion could do,” Heather said. “Zion sat in a chair designed for basketball for the first time at Shriners Children’s. They showed us netball and many other sports which allowed us to realize, ‘Hey, people really do play in their chairs.’ As a mom, Shriners Children’s gave me the opportunity to see there’s a whole new world for Zion as an amputee.”

The U.S. wheelchair rugby team opens its Paralympic run Aug. 29 against Canada.