PHILADELPHIA — After a Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University killed three people and left five others injured, student John Hao is recovering from his wounds in Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan.
Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden wanted to make a difference when he found out that Hao is a big Harden fan.
People from Harden’s team made the trip to Michigan to visit Hao, and they gave him some game-worn shoes, some encouragement and they put him on FaceTime with Harden. The Beard hopped on the call to let Hao know that everything is going to be OK and that he is strong enough to recover from this.
“There’s things like that that make you sit back and think about just real life and things bigger than basketball,” said Harden on Thursday. “I heard that he was a fan of mine, so I wanted to get up on that ASAP and see if there was anything I could do.”
Harden wanted to make sure Hao, who is paralyzed per his GoFundMe page, received some time with him and he wanted to make a difference in his life and his recovery.
“A couple of people from my team flew out there, they were actually in the hospital with him, brought him some things to actually cheer him up, make him smile, put me on FaceTime with him,” Harden added. “He’s actually doing a little bit better so the more I can just encourage and just rub off this energy that I have and give him the hope, I feel like that’s what I’m here.”
Last week, 20-year-old John Hao’s life was changed forever. He was one of the students shot at Michigan State University and was left paralyzed from the waist down. Hao is a huge fan of James Harden, and when Harden heard Hao’s story, he stepped in: pic.twitter.com/Htm2RXRdQ2
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) February 23, 2023
“That’s what I have this platform for so hopefully, he can recover and bounce back out of that sooner than later,” Harden finished. “I gave him my number so whenever he feels like he needs anything, he can call me to check up.”
This is a very admirable and terrific move by Harden. As he mentioned, this is bigger than basketball and any time somebody can step up and help others, it is something more people should be doing in a time of need.
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