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At the ESPY Awards this evening, a young Minnesota Vikings fan will be honored for the way he has dealt with being dealt a tough hand and doing everything he can to overcome it.
Taquarius Wair, a young man who suffered third-degree burns over more than half of his body in a house fire as a youth will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at tonight’s award ceremony. This past season, the Vikings honored Wair as one of their “Hometown Heroes.”
Taquarius Wair suffered 3rd-degree burns on 55% of his body during a house fire when he was younger. He has overcome...
Posted by Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, June 21, 2020
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Wair’s family had to deal with the house fire in 2005, and young Taquarius was given just a 20% chance of surviving. But, survive he did, and went on to be a starter for the Minneapolis North High School football team before moving on to compete as a backup at Mesabi Range College.
ESPN featured him in a story on Sportscenter as well.
The house fire left Wair with third-degree burns over 55% of his body and caused the loss of four fingers on his left hand. He spent a month in a coma and had to endure numerous skin grafts and surgeries as he was growing up. But he never let it get in the way of his dreams of playing football, and that’s what the folks at ESPN will be honoring him for this evening.
Because of the COVID-19 issue, there will not be an actual ESPY Awards ceremony this evening, but a different and creative way was reportedly found to honor Taquarius with his award. If you want to see it happen, you’ll have to tune in to tonight’s broadcast of the ESPY Awards, which starts at 8:00 PM Central time tonight on ESPN.
Congratulations to Taquarius Wair on being honored with the 2020 Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, and for being an inspiration to so many people.