Defying all the odds! Mom overjoyed as son born without hands excels in art

For Kameshia Jordine, watching her son defy odds that could have easily dimmed his dreams was a powerful reminder of just how far he had come.

Born without hands and with shortened legs, her 17-year-old son, Tyrece Johnson, proudly walked across the graduation stage at Belair High School in Mandeville, Manchester, recently.

“We scream! All his basic school teacher who nuh leave him out none at all, she was there too and we just a scream,” Jordine recalled joyfully to THE STAR. But as her son walked across the stage, her joy was accompanied by thoughts of the challenges he had overcome, particularly the predictions doctors had once made about his future.

“The doctors told me he wouldn’t be able to walk or sit up or even walk and then look at him,” she said. Yet, long before Johnson graced the stage in his graduation gown, his mother said she knew he was determined to overcome life’s obstacles.

“He met every milestone. He walked around the same time as a normal child but he started dragging on his bottom. His legs are really short, so he doesn’t walk like a normal child. So he walked on his bum until he started using his small legs,” she said.

Jordine said her son’s development was steady, although she had to take him to Bustamante Hospital for Children every three months for checkups.

“They said when he was about 15 they could possibly do a surgery to get him hands when he was mature,” she recalled. However, that surgery has not happened, Jordine said, as she remains fearful that the procedure could result in something worse.

As she watches her son confidently move around today, Jordine said she sometimes finds herself reflecting on the moment she first learnt during pregnancy that her child would be born with physical challenges.

“I did an ultrasound and the lady was telling me that she see like I am having a dwarf. She said short hands and feet and I started to cry and they couldn’t let me leave like that. So someone had to come pick me up, and even when I went home I couldn’t stop crying,” she said.

To deliver Johnson, she had to do a C-section.

“I was asking ‘Where is the baby?’ and my mom said she saw him and that he’s very sweet but he doesn’t have any hand and his feet is short, and I started crying,” Jordine said.

But despite the shock and uncertainty, Jordine said the moment she held her firstborn, she fell in love with him, even though accepting his disability was difficult at first. Jordine, who has two other children, said she has raised Johnson as a single mother. Through it all, Jordine said she has leaned heavily on the support of her mother, who has developed such a close relationship with Johnson that he calls her ‘mommy’, “because she’s always with him right through”.

The strength of that bond was evident during the interview, as Johnson’s grandmother, though she shied away from the camera, often stepped in to fill in the gaps in her daughter’s memories.

But while his journey has been filled with challenges, Johnson is already looking ahead. His passion for art has led him to dream of turning his creativity into a career.

“Occupation wise I want to be a graphic designer and if I get to go to Edna [Manley College], I would pursue visual arts and graphic design,” he told THE WEEKEND STAR last week.

Without arms to hold a brush or pencil, Johnson holds his tools between his shoulders and neck to create fine pieces.

His graduation journey, which was posted on the school’s Instagram page, has since garnered more than 71,000 views, a response that Johnson said has been overwhelming.

“I read all of the comments and it’s just … I didn’t know people would accept me so much,” he said through long pauses. For Jordine, the flood of support has been just as emotional.

“I saw the comments and have to just lock up in the work bathroom and cry,” she said.