ORANGE COUNTY, Va. -- David May may be small, but he is mighty. When May entered this world the odds were stacked against him and doctors were not holding out much hope. His mother knew her little boy would have long odds to overcome.
"A mother’s intuition. Something was just not right,"David’s mother Jenny May said. "There are days you have to turn your back just to cry."
Diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia, a speech disorder, David was not supposed to talk. Doctors said he might not ever walk either.
"I prayed from the day he was born," David’s grandmother Virginia Boone said. "We just didn’t know what was going to happen to him."
The ailments seemed never ending for the little boy from Orange County.
"He had many allergies. He was allergic to almost everything," David’s grandfather Jerry Boone said.
Then when life couldn’t get worse, it did. The date was March 20, 2010. Little David was rushed to University of Virginia Medical Center after he was pinned under his father’s pickup truck in the family’s driveway.
"He was hit and run over by a pickup truck and pinned under the wheel when he was 23-months old," Jenny said. "He had a broken shoulder blade. Bruised liver. Bruised lung. Had abrasions all over his body."
Miraculously David would recover. Two days later he was released from the hospital. Since then David hasn’t looked back.
Five years after the accident, seven-year-old David is thriving on the playground and beyond.
"We felt like God gave us the biggest miracle. That could ever be given to us," Virginia Boone said.
With lots of self-discipline David is overcoming his speech issue one word at a time.
"Oh my heavens if you had known David in kindergarten and now you would be in awe about what he has accomplished," David’s speech therapist Kathy Leeks said.
David’s family credited his progress with an inner drive burning inside him.
"There are no words to explain to you how proud we are of him. We are bursting," Virginia Boone said.
Jenny May said her son inspires children and adults alike.
"To watch where he was and what he has become," Jenny May said. "He is Mommy’s hero."
Don't bet against David May. He's the little boy who has already beaten tall odds.
"He is my miracle baby," Jenny said. "He has overcome everything he has made me who I am and who I want to be."
Greg McQuade features local heroes in a weekly “Heroes Among Us” segment. Watch Greg’s reports Thursdays on CBS News at 6 or here on WTVR.com. If you would like to nominate someone to be featured on “Heroes Among Us,” click here to email heroes@wtvr.com.
