2024: Austin Jones

Written by Austin’s Dad

It’s hard to write about your own kid sometimes….not because there’s not a lot to write about, but because you don’t want to seem like you’re bragging.

Sometimes though, you just have to do it…

The odds were against him from birth…

He is one of only a few hundred diagnoses of spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress in the entire world also known as SMARD. From the time he was born, he has done nothing by “live intrepid.” The word intrepid is an adjective meaning, ,”fearless; adventurous and is often times used for rhetorical or numerous affects.”

At 8 years old, the department head at the University of Michigan asked if we had made end of life plans for him yet, but he only embraced it as a life-long challenge. From catching snakes when he could walk and breathe on his own to forcing me to hunt elk with him deep in grizzly bear country, adventure motivates him every day.

He was fearless when they told him he couldn’t go back to public school after he went into respiratory failure at age 6, but then, the homecoming king graduated with a 3.78 GPA.

He was fearless when they said you can’t compete in sports, so he went on and won a couple of physically challenged national championships and a world championship in 3D archery.

He was fearless when they said you can’t compete against able-bodied people, so he went and wont the ASA classic by beating the best in the world and became a world champion again in 3D archery.

When he dragged me 12,000 feet up a mountain, I never dreamed that he only started his ascent. He kept climbing.

He is a business owner, occasional public speaker, backcountry adventurer, archery expert, video editor, accomplished hunter and the list goes on. That was all part of the climb.

I think he’s reached the top of the world now…

He is possibly the oldest male living with SMARD, has an amazing, loving wife and the three beautiful little girls.

I hope I’m half the man my son is when I grow up…