Help Ayden Payne on His Road to Recovery

Ayden Payne is a 20 year-old college athlete from Jasper, Alabama who was severely injured in a terrible accident while swimming on Saturday, June 15th.

Ayden and some buddies were enjoying time together, shooting hoops then decided to cool off in a friend’s swimming pool. Ayden jumped in the pool and hit his head, leading to a very scary time when he was pulled from the water and treated by paramedics before being airlifted to Huntsville Hospital. Medical images revealed that Ayden fractured his C5 vertebrae, a bone in his spinal column in his neck. Unfortunately, this fracture caused damage to his spinal cord, and he is currently experiencing paralysis from his chest down. Ayden had surgery on Sunday, June 16th to stabilize the fracture and to protect the spinal cord from further damage; this went well, and he is stable, awaiting plans for the next step which will likely be moving to a facility for physical rehabilitation when this hospitalization is complete. He faces a long, challenging road ahead.

For those of you who don’t know Ayden, he’s going to fight for this— he’s gritty, driven, and a hard worker. He graduated from Jasper High School in 2022 where he was a standout on the baseball diamond. Refusing to surrender his dreams of playing college baseball, he has spent the past two seasons playing at Bevill State Community College.

As a scrappy utility infielder and a consistent hitter, he’s played several different positions in high school and college. Ayden got hot at the end of this season, drawing attention from several programs and ultimately signed to continue his baseball career at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. Due to this debilitating injury, these plans are now on hold.

Today, Ayden is staring down a new and daunting challenge that will require even more of the same grit, drive, and hard-working mentality that brought him success on the baseball field.

There are obviously still many unknowns that lie ahead, but here are a few things we know for sure:

1…Ayden is a fighter, and he has an army of friends and family rallied behind him to help every step of the way.

2…We serve a BIG, mighty God who is in the miracle-business and tells us in His word that He can do the unexpected.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory!” Ephesians 3:20-21

3…Spinal cord injuries come with sizable costs. Treatment and recovery consume tremendous amounts of time, as well as incredible emotional and financial resources of the family and loved ones of the injured individual. While it’s hard to think about this when we just desperately want Ayden to be healed, the reality is there are needs to be met during a medical crisis. The family is already so grateful for the outpouring of support from the community! It will be needed in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Would you please consider donating? Any amount is appreciated and all funds will go directly to Molly Key, Ayden’s mother, for costs related to his care, rehab, and navigating the next steps?

Even if you can’t give financially, would you pray with us? We are boldly and specifically asking for supernatural healing— Ayden’s rehab will require so much of his own effort, and we are just praying that God shows up in a big way to help him regain more than anyone can predict or expect!

Thank you for taking time to read about our Ayden. Please post/share on socials— help us spread the word!!

GoFundMe is very serious about ensuring funds safely and efficiently go from donors to beneficiaries, so we want to be as transparent as possible with those who are kind enough to give. The site administrator is Ladonna Kilgore, one of Molly’s dear, life-long friends who jumped in to quickly launch this campaign to help the family. This post is written by Emily Meadows, Molly’s cousin, on behalf of Ayden’s family.

Molly Key is Ayden’s mother and is directly responsible for coordinating his ongoing medical care and wellbeing at this critical time; all collected funds will be transferred to an account in Molly’s name and will be used specifically for the costs associated with Ayden’s medical care and recovery.

Thank you so much for your generosity.