YPSILANTI, MI – An Ypsilanti teen who suffers from a rare heart condition wants to help other kids with health disorders feel seen.
Now De’Shawn O’Banner’s is hoping his new role with the Detroit Pistons Youth Council will give him even more opportunities.
The 16-year-old Ypsilanti High School student was born with tricuspid atresia, a rare congenital heart condition that occurs when the heart’s tricuspid valve fails to develop.
O’Banner had three open-heart surgeries before he turned three and now requires yearly hospital check-ins and exercise to prevent fatigue that sometimes has him struggling to leave his bed.
O’Banner realized the magnitude of his heart condition when he was eight and asked his parents to play football. His parents explained it was too risky due to his condition.
“It broke my heart because my dad ... played football,” O’Banner said. “I just wanted to follow my dad’s footsteps. But to find out that I couldn’t play a sport with that much contact, it just broke me inside. It felt like I was just going in a wrong direction. Like I wasn’t meant to do anything. It was a very painful feeling.”
In that moment, he said he felt different from other kids. While some friends supported him, others picked on him, saying things like, “He’s going to die on the court. Oh, he’s going to just pass out. He’s not meant to be here,” during basketball tryouts, he said.
“It bothered me and it went to the back of my head for such a long time. And I let them get into my head so bad that I didn’t make the team,” O’Banner said. “But I found a way to block them out and just take in the love that I get from my other friends.”
The Detroit Pistons Youth Council helped ignite his passion to help those with disabilities. O’Banner in April will take on a new role with the leadership development program, which consists of 11 metro Detroit youths, and offers a space to voice concerns that matter to them. Schools across the metro Detroit area were notified of the program and encouraged students to apply.
Each will provide advice, feedback and support to the Detroit Pistons organization, as well as learn decision-making, teamwork, conflict resolution, time management, public speaking, negotiation skills and participate in community projects and initiatives. He thanks his English teacher Richard Mero for nominating him.
“My part is having a connection with kids who have disabilities, that’s what I wanted to do. I always wanted to be there for them,” O’Banner said. “I feel like the kids with disorders, they don’t really get that much love ... I want to visit kids and hospitals and just be able to bond with them. That’s my goal.”
O’Banner’s passion and inspiration to help kids not only stems from his condition but his experiences at a called North Star Reach where he spent a week meeting other kids with heart diseases. It was “the most amazing feeling ever” after kids hugged him and showed excitement to see him.
“I had a heart-to-heart connection with the people at my camp, and it inspired me to be put in this position where I want to do it for, not just the people at my camp, but the ones outside, the ones in the hospital, the ones that live in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ypsi, anywhere, really.”
On difficult days, or when he feels a burst of positivity, he channels his emotions through dance, which he learned from his brother and rapper Kid Jay. Dancing came naturally to O’Banner and he hopes to develop it into a career.
“I want to be in movies. There is this specific movie that I’ve always pictured myself being in because it’s different types of dances and I feel like I’d fit in. It’s a movie series called ‘Step Up,’” O’Banner said. “I fell in love with it again over the summer. And when I was just watching it, it made me realize how much I actually loved dance. So I definitely can see myself being in that picture. And I hope that I can someday.”
Despite the coronavirus pandemic causing difficulties for those with underlying health conditions, his advice is to remember that everything will be OK and everyone will come out stronger if they stick together.
“Even if I don’t know you, I understand that you have had some sort of struggle, which is why you have love from my heart to yours. And one thing I can tell you about this, like about being in this pandemic is that ... it’s not over yet. But we’re fighters. We are able to adjust to anything. We’re able to make ourselves comfortable, even in the most uncomfortable circumstances,” O’Banner said.
O’Banner credits his family for supporting and nurturing him over the years, and helping him let his true colors shine.
“They are the people that understand me the most,” O’Banner said. “My parents, and even some of my cousins and my uncles, my pastor even, they just stayed overnight while I was getting my surgeries. I love them. They’re the reason why I found a way to be myself, I found a way I love myself. So yeah, they are my rock.”
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