Make-A-Wish^® Northeastern & Central California

Jordan spent most of his toddler years exhausted. He was always fatigued, so much so that he was even delayed in learning how to walk.

Then one day, his parents noticed that he looked like he had swollen calves, so they took him to the doctor for a checkup. At the appointment, Jordan indicated that even the slightest touch of a doctor would hurt. However, all his tests came back normal so the doctors sent him home. But his problem continued into pre-school. Jordan was still not able to walk well and he was constantly falling down, so his parents took him back to the doctor.

After a hospital visit and many blood tests, Jordan was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a degenerative neuromuscular condition, at age of 6. The following three years he was on medication that was supposed to help, but only seemed to make his condition worse. He had a swollen face and legs and bruises, cuts, and open wounds on his body. Eventually, he went back to the hospital again to seek a new treatment plan.

Today, Jordan is off happily medication, uses a wheelchair, and is in physical therapy regularly.

Jordan loves school, especially science class. And although he can be a bit shy, he loves hanging out with his sisters, painting, drawing, and playing on their PlayStation console. When he’s worked up an appetite from playing, he loves to chow down on his mom’s homemade tacos, his favorite dish, with chocolate frosted vanilla cake and gummy bears as dessert! Jordan loves watching YouTube and the classic Lion King movie and reading comic books and any one of the Diary of Wimpy Kid books. 

When Jordan met the Make-A-Wish® team, after some brainstorming he defined his most heartfelt wish to be to have a pair of shoes that reflect him and his life– designed & brought to life by himself! He wanted his special sneakers to be more adaptable to those with physical abilities. 

From the personalized wheelchair symbol, to his initials and inspiring quote etched on the shoe, the Nike and Jordan teams came together to allow Jordan the ability to lead the charge on designing for inclusivity. ♿

His wish day provided him a lot of hope, strength, and joy to see inclusivity & creativity brought to life. His wish gave him life, sparking his mind with the possibilities of being able to give other children in wheelchairs a feeling of community through a pair of his custom shoes.

Special thanks to the Make-A-Wish® America, Make-A-Wish® Oregon, NIKE and Air Jordan teams who made Jordan's wish possible.