Minnesota
Minnesota hockey player paralyzed during game seeing ‘small miracles’
Hockey player paralyzed becoming ‘Miracle Boy’
Jackson Drum’s family was told he would probably be a quadriplegic for life after an injury during a hockey game. But since then, small changes already feel like enormous miracles.
(FOX 9) – A few weeks ago, Jackson Drum’s family was told he would probably be a quadriplegic for life, with no sensation or movement below his neck and never able to breathe on his own.
But small changes already feel like enormous miracles.
“They said to expect him to be fully quadriplegic,” Emily Haeg Nguyen, his aunt, told FOX 9. “We were holding onto hope.”
A sudden life-altering moment
The backstory:
Jackson, who hails from Parker’s Prairie north of Alexandria, plays hockey for the Coeur D’Alene Hockey Academy in Idaho.
On Jan. 24, he’d just scored a goal during a game in Vancouver.
Minutes later, a hard hit into the boards changed everything when he went into cardiac arrest on the ice.
Doctors in Vancouver fused two vertebrae in his neck, but told the family to expect lifetime paralysis: no sensation or movement below the neck and never able to breathe on his own.
‘The Miracle Boy’
Dig deeper:
Jackson has since began to recover a slight sensation of people touching him, and started making slight muscle movements.
Doctors in Vancouver couldn’t believe it.
“They just came in there and were shocked,” Jason Drum, Jackson’s father, told FOX 9. “They just said it was a miracle. Their own words!”
Using an alphabet board in his hospital room, Jackson nicknamed himself “the miracle boy.”
Move to Atlanta
What’s next:
Last week, Jackson was airlifted to Shepherd’s Center in Atlanta, which specializes in spinal cord injuries. The nearly $50,000 flight was covered by the generosity of donors to the family’s “Give Send Go” campaign.
He’ll be there for at least a few months, but what they continue to see is nothing short of astounding.
He’s been able to breathe on his own for about an hour a day, which wasn’t supposed to happen.
And his family shared a video of Jackson slightly moving his left leg.
“He started wiggling his shoulders,” said Emily. “And then just these past few days, he started wiggling a few fingers on his left hand. And I guess my sister said she saw him wiggling his pinky toe as well.”
Another fundraiser is planned for April 12 in Alexandria to help cover the costs of his care and to help prepare his home for his eventual return to Minnesota.
What his recovery looks like is still unknown, but what’s happened so far already has inspired the hockey community.
Minnesota
Minnesota woman detained by ICE needs emergency surgery for tennis ball-sized ovarian cyst, lawmakers say
Minnesota lawmakers are calling for the humanitarian release of a woman detained earlier this year, amid Operation Metro Surge, who is suffering from a tennis ball-sized ovarian cyst.
Federal immigration agents arrested 23-year-old Andrea Pedro-Francisco in Burnsville on Feb. 5, just days before she says she was scheduled to have surgery.
Pedro-Francisco moved to Minnesota seeking asylum with her mother back in 2019. Right now, she is being held in a detention center in El Paso, Texas.
State lawmakers — including practicing ER physician Sen. Alice Mann, D-Edina — held a news conference Thursday morning at the Capitol to push for Pedro-Francisco’s immediate release.
“An ovarian cyst this big can put weight on the ovary and cause the ovary to twist onto itself, cutting off the ovary’s blood supply. This is a medical emergency,” Mann said. “This can impact fertility, and we are talking about a 23-year-old. If not treated, this can lead to infection and even death.”
Also on hand Thursday was North Dakota-based pastor Ellery Dykeman, who said he met with Pedro-Francisco last week in the detention center. Dykeman said she looked thinner than he had seen her in pictures.
Dykeman said Pedro-Francisco told him she is forced to climb up to a third-level bunk despite immense pain extending from the right side of her abdomen to her back.
Earlier this month, Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Angie Craig said her team is tracking 20 medical cases with improper care within ICE detention. A quarter of them have serious conditions, her office says.
WCCO has reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Minnesota weather forecast. (FOX 9)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Most of Minnesota will be under a marginal risk of severe weather on Thursday, with rain and rumbles expected.
Thursday weather forecast
Local perspective:
A line of storms is expected to develop in west-southwest Minnesota on Thursday and grow in coverage as well as intensity tracking east into the early evening.
Large hail and damaging winds are the prevalent threats, but an isolated tornado is also possible along the line.
Isolated showers are expected to form in the western part of Minnesota on Thursday morning.
Rain chances in the Twin Cities area increase in the afternoon, as a line pushes through with possible thunderstorms.
Stay Sky Aware with FOX 9 for the latest.
The Source: This story uses information from the FOX 9 weather forecast.
A TikTok creator is no longer banned from parks in St. Paul, Minnesota, after appealing the city’s restriction, according to his agent.
St. Paul Parks and Recreation Director Andy Rodriguez earlier this month accused Josh Liljenquist of going to Pig’s Eye Park to “harass, record and profit from vulnerable adults residing there without said individuals’ permission.” Liljenquist, who is known for giving away food and cash in his videos, denied the allegation.
On Wednesday, Liljenquist’s agent shared a new letter from the city.
“Based on an evaluation of the facts of this situation as they were relayed during your appeal meeting, I will be rescinding your ban from our parks, effective immediately,” the letter from Rodriguez read.
Rodriguez also wrote the city expects “all residents and visitors to our parks to abide by the rules.”
“Our responsibility is to ensure park spaces remain safe, respectful, and accessible for all, and we appreciate your partnership in that effort,” the letter read.
Liljenquist told WCCO he has only recorded at Pig’s Eye Park once, and it was with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office’s consent. He said he and his videographer always get consent from individuals they film, too.
Local organizations that work with people experiencing homelessness are split on Liljenquist’s impact. Sue Phillips, director of the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing, said his content “is exploiting people experiencing homelessness/housing instability.” Feeding St. Paul founder Michael Brendale, on the other hand, said, “Josh has changed many lives, taken people off the streets.”
Liljenquist told WCCO he films his efforts instead of making them private in hopes of “inspiring other people to do it, showing that it doesn’t take a lot of money, it doesn’t take a lot of resources to go out there and do something for somebody.”
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