Paralympic sprinter Nick Mayhugh's life changed at 14 years old. He had been having difficulty using the left side of his body and one day experienced a grand mal seizure, leading to a loss of consciousness and violent contractions.
An MRI revealed he had cerebral palsy, the result of a "dead spot" on the left side of his brain, which occurred when he suffered a stroke in utero and affected mobility on his left side.
“It was very scary being rushed to the hospital, having my aunts there, having my grandparents come and my parents, my brother was there,” Mayhugh, 28, said on NBC Sports' "My New Favorite Paralympian" podcast.
He said he and his family's chief concern was whether he would live and be healthy.
After he was medically cleared, he wondered whether his passion for playing sports would continue. But the idea of not competing was a nonstarter, said his father, Scott Mayhugh.
“I remember Nick turning around and me sitting up and his mom sitting up and Nick looking at me," the elder Mayhugh said, "and he’s like, ‘That’s not going to happen. There’s no way I’m not going to continue to play sports. There’s no way, Dad. No way.'"
One of Nick's doctors told him that while it may be "a little farfetched" to play sports, he could probably do it with some training.
That's all he needed to hear to continue playing soccer, the sport for which he had long-term aspirations. His childhood goal of making the U.S. men’s national soccer team evolved into making the U.S. Paralympic national team. He accomplished that goal in 2017.
Mayhugh credits his family for not “feeling sorry for me,” which strengthened his belief in himself.
Two years later, he helped his team win its first bronze medal at the Para Pan American Games and was named the U.S. Soccer Player of the Year with a Disability.
Mayhugh next set his sights on the Paralympics, but soccer wasn't among the sports that would be played at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. So he shifted his focus again, this time training as a sprinter. He qualified and went on to claim three gold medals and set a world record.
Yet a pall was cast over the victories when his family learned that Mayhugh's grandmother, Shirley Culpeper Mayhugh, had been diagnosed years earlier with ALS, a terminal neurodegenerative disease that impacts muscle function, and frontotemporal dementia, which alters a person’s behavior and leads to memory loss.
By the time the family found out, the disease had progressed. Scott Mayhugh said he was devastated by his mother's diagnosis.
"That’s a tough one because she was the pivotal point in the whole family,” he said.
Within six months, Mayhugh’s grandmother was in the hospital in a coma. He and his father were at her bedside on Mayhugh's 19th birthday when the doctor told them, "She doesn't look good."
Scott McHugh turned to his mother and said, "Hey, you cannot go on Nick's birthday."
She held on until the next day.
"Even at the end, to be able to hold on for me and to know that she could hear my father and she knew to hold on," McHugh said. "The fact that she even did that was just a testament to who she was as a grandma and as a woman.”
Three years later, his grandfather, Bill Mayhugh, also died.
Mayhugh says he continues to be inspired by his grandparents. He’s looking to emulate his grandfather’s past as a broadcaster with hopes of being one himself.
As for his grandmother, he’s following her footsteps in the fashion world. In 2022, Nick was asked to walk the Hugo Boss Rebrand fashion show and has done a number of other fashion campaigns.
“This was her life,” he said. “She would be over the moon about it, being able to meet some of the women that I’ve met, the people I’ve been able to work with. I know she’s looking down very proud."
