Teen scores 3 touchdowns after his mom, who woke up from 5-year coma, recovers enough to attend his senior night game

A high school football star in Michigan had quite a performance on senior night after his mother, who had been in a coma for more than five years, recovered enough to attend the game.

On October 20, a crowd of fans gathered in the bleachers to enjoy senior night at Niles High School in Niles, Michigan, just a few miles north of South Bend, Indiana. There was much at stake, as the visiting team from Paw Paw was undefeated and the game would determine the winner of the Wolverine Conference.

But for senior Julian Means-Flewellen, the game was particularly special. His mother, Jennifer Flewellen, was in attendance even though she was still struggling with the effects of a five-year coma from which she had awoken just 14 months earlier.

The Flewellen family's nightmare began on the morning of September 25, 2017. Jennifer had just dropped her three boys off at school and began the drive to work when she inexplicably crashed into a light pole. As a result, Jennifer suffered severe brain damage and was in a seemingly irreversible coma.

Julian, the youngest of Jennifer's three sons, recalled feeling "a bunch of emotions" after receiving the devastating news from doctors. "It was very emotional, crying, things like that," Julian explained. "I didn’t think she was going to be in the damage she was in."

"Nobody expected her to wake up," Peggy Means, Jennifer's mother, added. "We were told all along that she has anoxia and that [with] the brain damage, she’ll never wake up."

Despite the long odds, Peggy refused to give up on her daughter. She visited Jennifer in the hospital every day, singing songs and walking her up and down the hospital corridors to keep her mind active. "I just believed she was in there. When you have brain damage, if I had just let her lay there and let her have no stimulation, the brain will die," Peggy said. "She had to have stimulation, so I had to fight a lot of nurses and aids to get her up, get her in her chair, talk to her."

As the years passed, Jennifer's sons continued to grow, and two of them had completed their high school football careers. But Jennifer remained in bed, unconscious.

That all changed on August 25, 2022, four years and 11 months since the accident, when Jennifer suddenly showed a tangible sign of cognitive awareness after Peggy cracked a joke. "She started laughing so much that she was crying," Peggy said. "I thought something was really bad, but then I realized she understood it and she was laughing." Soon enough, her eyes opened as well.

Peggy, Julian, and the rest of the family celebrated Jennifer's unexpected awakening, but they all knew she still had a long road ahead of her. Even the therapy she needed had to be delayed because "she wasn’t ready for it," Peggy explained.

Now after more than a year of recovery, Jennifer has therapy for three hours every day. She will also soon be transferred to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, where Peggy believes she will slowly relearn how "to sit up on her own" and other "small things that we all take for granted." But, Peggy told WNDU, "The ultimate goal is to walk."

But those physical limitations did not seem to matter before the big game against Paw Paw back in October. The crowd at Viking Field rose to their feet and cheered as Jennifer, now 41, accompanied Julian onto the field, where he was recognized as a senior and a team captain. "It’s nothing short of a miracle she’s here tonight," said friend Cassie Lee. Julian was clearly proud, smiling for pictures and giving his mother a quick kiss before heading out to play.

She must have brought him good luck. On the second play of the game, Julian took the ball 87 yards to the house for a touchdown. He then tacked on two more touchdowns as the Niles Vikings trounced the Paw Paw Red Wolves, 56-18.

After the game was over and the Vikings had secured their first conference title in more than 20 years, Julian made sure to pay tribute to his mom. "She’s the strongest woman I know," he said.

After 5 years in a coma, Niles mom attends son's senior nightwww.youtube.com

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