Colton Rahn is defying the odds and is an inspiration to his favorite team

Colton Rahn has overcome the unthinkable and is inspiring others to never give up.

In 2009 Katie and Jason Rahn welcomed their first child into the world, a son they named Colton. The delivery went well, and Colton was nursing with ease on the first day. However, that quickly changed. After several doctor’s visits of being told everything is fine, and to not compare Colton to the development of other kids his age, the Rahn’s were getting fed up with the lack of legitimate explanations.

Colton wasn’t able to hold a bottle with both hands, often favoring his left hand to do everything, and instead of crawling on all fours like most babies do, Colton would army crawl. This is when his parents decided to take Colton to a child orthopedic to see if what his primary care doctor was saying is true, that he was just a stubborn baby.

That wasn’t the case.

“Within seconds of walking in the room the doctor says ‘I’m not a neurologist, but I’m 98 percent sure your son has Cerebral palsy,'” Jason said. “Then we made an appointment with a neurologist and did the MRI’s and cat scans and they realized he had a blood clot in the left main artery of his brain that stopped all blood flow. The left side of his brain is dead.”

For some people that might be enough to succumb to the hand they’ve been dealt and give up, but not Colton. Three times a week Colton is at physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy to power through and defy the diagnosis of never being able to walk, talk or feed himself.

Colton’s journey is an inspiration not just to his parents, but to his favorite team, the University of Illinois football team. As a devoted Illinois fan Colton and his dad would always show up to open practices and as many games as possible, and one day Colton caught the attention of Illinois wide receiver Mike Dudek.

“I always saw him and he was always smiling, so one day I went up to his dad and asked to talk to Colton — I didn’t want to go up to him out of the blue and I didn’t know if he knew who I was — and his dad said I was one of his favorite players,” Dudek said. “This was a couple years ago and it’s just built every time we see each other.”

The entire Illinois football team has built a special bond with Colton and has even gone so far as to attend his basketball and flag football games.

“The guys have reached out to him since day one and he just tries to return it to them as much as possible,” Jason said. “Seeing the interaction is incredible. You have 18-24 year olds and a 9-year-old. They’ve all adopted him as a brother.”

Despite what the doctors told his parents, Colton is now able to walk, talk and feed himself. There’s been setbacks, earlier this year Colton suffered a seizure which set him back three years in physical therapy, but it’s something that his dad says you can’t even notice now.

The amount of hard work, perseverance and just plain stubborness has given Colton the ability to not let his Cerebral Palsy define him, and when it comes to his future goals, playing tackle football is at the top of the list.

“I want him to dream big. [Playing tackle football] scares me and his mom to death but you never know what the helmet technology will be in a few years,” Jason said.

Colton may only be nine years old, but he’s given motivation to Illinois football players overcoming injuries, to his parents to live each day to the fullest and to anyone who comes in contact with him to never give up.