New student overcomes rare disease, multiple strokes to attend Liberty and grow his faith

When Jackson Hunter stepped onto the campus of Liberty University as a high schooler for his father’s graduation in 2019, he said he felt Liberty was where God was leading him too.

“Once I put my foot on campus, I immediately felt the Spirit of the Lord unlike anywhere else I’d been,” he said. “I knew right then that He was speaking to me and saying, ‘This is where you’re called to be.’ I knew that I wanted to come at some point if the opportunity arose.”

While Jackson is now a sophomore studying exercise science at Liberty, the years that followed that first visit brought into question if he would be able to attend Liberty — or even live to see his college years.

Jackson was a healthy teenager — except for bad headaches in the back of his head — and a talented pitcher for his high school in Beulaville, N.C. On Aug. 3, 2020, his blood was drawn during a routine doctor’s visit. Having never had this done before, he was nervous and didn’t eat well beforehand. After seeing the needle in his arm, he passed out for several minutes. He stayed an extra half hour and was cleared by the doctor, so he went home and had a snack to regulate his blood sugar level.

“About 15 minutes into eating, I immediately started feeling very weak and I got really bad tingling in my face and in my left (dominant) arm,” Jackson recalled. “My speech became slurred, and I began to lose complete mobility in the left side of my body.”

He was transported by ambulance to the emergency room, unable to speak or use the left side of his body. Upon evaluation, Jackson was found to have experienced two strokes, one on each side of his brain.

“I really thought I was going to die, because strokes are obviously nothing to play around with when it comes to the damage they do to your brain,” he said. “A few of my family members were called during the process of the (ambulance) coming to get me, and I didn’t know if I was going to see them again. In the process, I was constantly asking God, ‘Why? Why me? I don’t understand, I have such a promising life ahead of me.’”

Jackson was transferred to a hospital in Greenville, N.C., and it was there where he received an answer to the cause of the strokes and headaches that preceded them: a rare blood vessel disorder called Moyamoya Disease. The disease is characterized by the carotid artery, a major artery that brings blood to the brain, becoming blocked or narrowed and tiny blood vessels then developing at the base of the brain in an attempt to supply blood. Moyamoya is found in 1 in 100,000 people. Jackson would need to undergo major brain surgery within the next few months. The doctor told him he would not play baseball again.

He spent four days in Greenville working with staff to regain some tension in his left arm and left leg then went home to do physical therapy three times a week for two months while his family researched surgery options. During the therapy, as he questioned his future, Jackson said he repeated Joshua 1:9 that called him to “be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

The Hunter family looked for the best neurosurgeons in the country, and they came across a highly respected doctor at Boston Children’s Hospital who specializes in the surgery that treats Moyamoya Disease.

The morning of the surgery, Jackson’s dad took a Lyft to meet his wife and son at the hospital. The driver shared his own experience with harrowing family health issues and, when they arrived at the hospital, offered to pray.

“The hospital was really busy, with all of these cars honking and so on, but he sat there in the car and prayed the most beautiful prayer over me and my family,” Todd said. “I couldn’t see his face; it was almost like an angel came to give me some comfort before Jackson’s surgery. That experience, and everything else, has given us a (reminder) that God is here with us each and every day.”

To prevent future strokes, Jackson underwent a bilateral bypass, in which surgeons rerouted blood vessels in his brain due to the strokes’ damage. A fresh vessel was taken from each side of his brain and placed around the damaged areas. To his parents’ amazement, Jackson recovered rapidly enough to walk out of the hospital two days later.

Occupational therapy helped Jackson recover full mobility in the left side of his body. Today, he is required to undergo yearly MRI scans, take a low-dose aspirin daily, and drink a large amount of water.

With his recovery, Jackson regained the ability to reconnect with a lifelong passion: the sport of baseball. He was able to return to the mound in his junior season as a relief pitcher. He recalled one game in which he closed out a win.

“I got the last out, and I immediately bowed my head in prayer and said, ‘Thank You, Lord, for everything, for allowing me to be back on the (field),’” he said.

His father said Jackson’s journey has left an indelible mark on the family and their faith.

“It’s had a tremendous impact on our family to see God working during that time,” Todd said. “We saw so many things happen, and it was God leading us the whole way making things fall into place.”

Jackson’s pursuit of playing college baseball took him to a Division III program in North Carolina. But he soon found that the environment there was contradictory to what he believed and desired from college, and he found himself being pulled back to the campus of Liberty University.

“We were looking at what my future held, and I remembered that feeling from sophomore year of high school of how good Liberty University felt when I visited, how that was where I’d felt called to be in some way,” Jackson said. “I absolutely love every value that this place holds and what it takes part in. I want to grow in my faith and become a Champion for Christ as much as I can.”

“It means the world to me that he is (at Liberty),” Todd said. “To know that he’s somewhere where Christian values are important, the students share that common value, and they’re building Champions for Christ, it’s amazing. There’s no other place on this planet, I believe, that’s like that. It also means so much to know that he is following in my footsteps. Even though I did everything online, it was still so special to me.”

Jackson transferred and began classes this fall. His father said seeing him partake in activities he’d imagined doing himself while an online student has given him tremendous joy. (Todd Hunter earned three degrees through Liberty’s online programs after retiring from a career in law enforcement: an associate’s and a bachelor’s in psychology in 2019 and 2020, and a master’s in human services – executive leadership in 2023.)

“When I was a student, I would watch Convocation on my computer, and I felt like I was there, and I could still feel the presence of the Lord and feel everything through that computer,” he said. “Now, to know that (Jackson) is actually there in the Vines Center, it’s amazing. I still try to watch it every Wednesday and Friday, and since I know that he’s in there somewhere, it makes me feel close to him. It’s just a blessing to know that he is somewhere where they are worshiping the Lord while learning what they’re going to do for the rest of their lives.”

>>Jackson Hunter is one of the over 4,400 new incoming undergraduates welcomed to campus this fall. This semester marked the first fall semester for Liberty to surpass 16,000 residential students.