Eli is an all around great kid and athlete. He has overcame many adversities in his life. Just a few days after birth, Eli became very sick. After a few test, Children's Hospital in Birmingham, AL found that Eli had a condition called Malrotation. His intestines were "kinked" causing many problems. We didn't know if he was going to live or die. After surgery and a 9 day stay in the hospital, our 8'9" newborn was now a 6'7" 15 day old baby. Eli quickly gained his weight back and lead a normal healthy childhood. Eli played all youth sports, with basketball being his favorite. He made the junior high basketball team and as an 8th grader, he played on the Jr high A team . Quite an accomplishment for an 8th grader. In the 10th grade, he was on the Varsity B team. Halfway through the season, he was moved to the Varsity A team, making All Area in the area tournament. In August of Eli's Jr year, he started taking Acutane. A medication to treat acne. All was working well until the doctor double his dose in November and Eli lost 20 lbs over a 4 week period. At the time, the doctors didn't know the cause of his weight lose. After numerous test, they came to the conclusion doubling the dose was the cause, so Eli stopped the medication immediately. With the weight lose, he also lost muscle tone which caused him to be much slower on the court and not shooting as well because of the muscle weakness in his arms. With all those conditions, Eli was not playing much at all. But that did not get him down, Eli kept cheering his team on like nothing was wrong. His coach continually boasted about him being such a good teammate and not letting his team down. Eli progressively regained his weight and muscle tone and was back to his normal self by the spring. He was ready to get back to practicing and working out. Eli also ran track during the Spring and went to the State competition in 4 events. Summer of 2015, Eli was named Captain of the 2015-16 basketball season. The team had a great season, making to the Sweet 16. We just returned from the State track meet in Gulf Shores. Eli finished 5th in javelin and 4th with his 4x400 relay team at the class 4A State Championship. He will continue track this Fall at Shorter University in Rome, GA. Eli overcame his health problems and had a tremendous senior year! Eli persevered during and after his sickness and that makes a mother and dad so proud.