Peninsula Teen Gets Surprise At Challenged Athletes Foundation Event

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Brandon Louie thought he was showing up at Chase Center on Thursday at the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s fifth annual Celebration of Heart event just to represent his wheelchair basketball team and to put on a brief demonstration in front of around 350 attendees.

But the 16-year-old Los Altos High School student — who suffered a sudden and rare spinal cord injury last July that paralyzed him from the waist down — ended up receiving a custom basketball wheelchair from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, capping off a night that raised more than $650,000 to support athletes with physical challenges.

“I was completely surprised,” Louie told Patch. “I had no idea this was happening. I thought I was just going to be here for a little demonstration and represent my team — which in itself is plenty for me — but to add this on top of all of that was just phenomenal. Words honestly can’t describe it.”

Louie was surfing in Hawaii in July 2021 when he felt a sudden pop in his back. Within minutes, he lost all sensation in his legs. He wound up being diagnosed with surfer’s myelopathy — a nontraumatic spinal cord injury resulting from repeated hyperextension of the lower spine, cutting off blood flow, the foundation said.

Louie played soccer and basketball and ran cross country before his injury, and his mindset shifted to what he could do despite it. Lying in bed in the hospital one day, Louie saw the Paralympics on television and decided wheelchair basketball was for him.

His goal became clear.

Within seven months, Louie began playing wheelchair basketball — attending the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s wheelchair basketball clinic — and competing on his school’s track and field team.

The Challenged Athletes Foundation has funded more than 40,000 grants to athletes with physical challenges. Bob Babbitt, who co-founded the organization 29 years ago, told Patch that it has grown through the power of sports.

“No one should be left out,” Babbitt said. “We’re about inclusion. Getting people the equipment they need. I always call sport an equal opportunity abuser, because it doesn’t really care if you’re missing a leg or an arm or [are] in a wheelchair. You should be allowed to participate in any sport you want. And if it’s a $2,500 hand cycle that’s keeping you from doing that, let’s make sure we make that happen.”

Louie’s previous wheelchair was used. With the new one he received on Thursday, his father, David Louie, told Patch that he hoped it will mark the beginning of a career in wheelchair basketball — one that is already well under way.

Brandon Louie has received first team honors in two of the three tournaments that he has participated in so far.

“If he didn’t have a way of being athletic as a paraplegic, it’d be so hard for him to get past this injury,” David Louie said. “Because he has this — and CAF has been a huge part of making that happen — he’s going to be so much better able to approach life. He looks at this injury as a huge obstacle, but it’s just another obstacle.”

For Brandon Louie, sports was a part of his identity before the injury — and it’s keeping him going now.

“Having found basketball and adaptive sports in general really helped me recover,” Brandon Louie said. “When you come out of the hospital, you often feel like you’re missing something. This is how you get it back, for me at least.”

David Louie said the silver lining from Brandon’s injury is watching the community that has surrounded his son. The Louies used to be an independent family, and Brandon Louie was very self-sufficient.

“When something tragic happens to people, it doesn’t just happen to the person,” David Louie said. “It happens to their family. It happens to anyone that can sympathize.”

David Louie’s first reaction was to tell everyone that they were fine. But then, he realized, “The more you push people away, the more you miss out on the opportunity to heal as a community and to build community,” such as the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

“Just the fact that we are able to get past that and allow people to reach out to us and accept their help,” David Louie said. “It strengthens us as neighbors, as friends, even people we don’t even know. It’s just a super supportive community.”

Thursday's event ended with Brandon Louie and his wheelchair basketball teammates speaking to the attendees about their journeys from the court at Chase Center, just 24 hours after the likes of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson put on a show in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

Brandon, who is a Warriors fan and was sporting a No. 30 jersey — Curry’s number — reached out and touched the court.

“I don’t think I’ll have a chance to do that ever again,” Brandon Louie said. “I think it’s the dream of every Warriors fan to be out there.”

Later, on the concourse outside a post-event reception in one of the luxury suites, Brandon Louie tested out his new wheelchair, spinning and zooming down the halls.

The wheelchair already felt a lot more comfortable. He thinks he’ll be faster and able to maneuver more.

“I was not expecting to get any sort of equipment today, so having this is like getting a new pair of legs,” Brandon Louie said. “It’s going to feel like I'm running again, honestly. It’s going to be so fast. I’m so excited for this.”