There’s a long road ahead to recovery for JoJo Rushing, but his family is counting their blessings.
Rushing, 27, was seriously injured on May 1 when he hit the back of a Columbus Municipal School District bus after falling asleep on the drive home from a night shift at Steel Dynamics, Inc.
Susie Rushing, JoJo’s mother, said her son spent much of the week at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. He suffered severe facial lacerations that required surgery to fix, along with three broken vertebrae in his neck and two in his back.
JoJo is doing well, considering the severity of his injuries, Susie said.
“This is the first time he’s ever had any kind of trauma to him,” she said. “He’s never broken a bone as a kid. It’s the first time he’s ever been in the hospital.”
Susie said JoJo won’t need surgery on his neck for the moment — doctors opted to put him in a halo brace for 12 weeks to heal, then they will evaluate his condition.
She said he’s talked to his boss from SDI, who’s assured him that his job is safe while he recovers.
Recovery won’t be easy, but Susie said she’s just happy that her son is alive. He walked out of the car after the wreck, despite his injuries.
“It’s a major devastation to our family,” Susie said. “We’re so blessed he survived this. The Jackson doctors told us he was very blessed to walk out from that because what they saw, they don’t normally see people walking or getting out of.
“He’s our miracle,” she later added. “The good Lord’s still got plans for him on this earth.”
JoJo has a wife, Chelsea, and a 6-month-old daughter, Ava Kate. They recently built a house they moved into in January, Susie said.
Chelsea described her husband as a “gentle soul” who always puts others before himself.
“He always worries about everybody else and making sure everybody else is taken care of,” she said. “He’s just one of kind. He goes with the flow, and is a real loving, down-to-earth guy.”
Financial support
Since the wreck, a GoFundMe account set up to help pay for his medical expenses has received a groundswell of support, receiving more than $4,500 as of this morning. The family is also working to set up a bank account for donations.
Susie said the community has rallied, from the day care JoJo’s daughter attends asking how they can help, to people looking for ways to contribute to the family. She said the offers of help are especially meaningful because JoJo will be away from work for at least three months, and Chelsea has taken off time to help him.
For Chelsea, the support coming in has been overwhelming.
“It means everything,” Chelsea said. “You hear about it and see it on social media when it’s somebody else, but when it’s you, you’re just in awe of everybody texting and calling.”
Despite the support, Susie expressed some concerns and frustration with certain aspects of the responses to news of JoJo’s wreck on social media. She said he’s always had an issue with falling asleep in cars, since he was a boy, and it hurt to see people jumping to conclusions, such as assuming he was texting, without knowing him.
“We would never do that knowing that’s someone’s son, husband or brother,” she said. “We’re not people to judge.”
Regardless of any challenges that arise — be they medical or financial — Susie said the family is committed to helping JoJo get through his recovery.
“He’s gonna make it,” she said. “We’re gonna make it. We have our faith — we’re strong in faith and strong in the Lord. That’s what’s going to get us through it.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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