James Harden has always had the support of John Hao, a Michigan State student who was paralyzed from the chest down in last week's tragic shooting on the school's campus. Now Hao has the support of Harden.
Upon learning after the shooting that the 20-year-old Hao is one of his biggest fans, Harden FaceTimed Hao in the hospital with some encouraging words, sent him a pair of game-worn sneakers and donated to the GoFundMe that will help cover the cost of Hao's medical care moving forward. The NBA superstar also gave Hao his number and told him to call whenever he needs a lift.
"There's things like that, where you sit back and think about just real life and things bigger than basketball," Harden said Thursday night via ESPN. "I heard that he was a fan of mine, so I wanted to get up on that ASAP and just see what I could do, anything I could do."
On a video of the FaceTime call shared by ESPN, Hao is grinning as Harden tells him, "I love when you're smiling. I'm with you."
"I know it's tough right now, but you gotta stay physically strong," Harden went on. "Just think positive things and keep pushing and fighting. I got you. I got some gifts for you, too. I got some things coming your way to hopefully give you some encouragement and make you smile a little bit. I'm with you. Let me know if you need anything else."
Three MSU students were killed in the Feb. 13 shooting and Hao was one of five others wounded after he was shot in the back. Per his GoFundMe page, he has 'decided to continue his studies at Michigan State, and is committed to a future career in sports management. His dream is to work in soccer and basketball.'
Hopefully some encouragement from Harden will help.
"The more I can encourage and rub off this energy that I have and give him hope, I feel like that's what I'm here for," Harden said. "And that's what I've got this platform for. Hopefully he can recover and bounce back out of that sooner than later, but I gave him my number, so whenever he ever feels like he needs anything he can call me and I check up on him."
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