TULSA -- A Green Country Toddler, baptized by fire, is showing others that overcoming adversity is all about attitude.
Like the pieces of a puzzle, three-year-old Alex Stephenson's life is being put back together.
“Kid you have literally been baptized in fire,” Jacob Stephenson, Alex’s dad said. “There is not a thing that is going to stop you on this earth."
Sometimes the pieces of the puzzle do not fit, but the bigger picture is enough reason to find one that does.
“Whatever trouble he comes into, he's going to be able to overcome them,” Alex’s father said.
Almost one year ago, little Alex was severely burned in a raging house fire accidentally started in the garage. It’s a memory Amanda Stephenson, Alex’s mom, struggles to forget.
“I used to have it pretty much flash through my brain every time I shut my eyes,” Amanda said.
Her baby boy cried out for his mother, as flames whipped around him.
“I just broke down,” Amanda said.
Third degree burns sent Alex to a burn hospital in Galveston, Texas where he underwent several surgeries for the next four months, averaging about two a week.
“We weren't sure he was going to make it,” Jacob said.
Each day was a waiting game.
“It was the biggest game of patience you've ever seen in your life.”
But just like a puzzle, the pieces started to come together, creating a vivid picture.
“About a week after we got home, he didn't need help walking anymore,” Jacob said.
Alex's energy skyrocketed. He was reading books and playing with toy cars.
“He was climbing everything he could climb” Jacob said. “He was getting into anything he could get into."
His parents are excited for the achievements he's made, but concerned for what's to come.
“I expect that when he's a teenager people will make fun of him or give him sideways looks, and he'll come home feeling like dad i don't fit in,” Jacob said.
But Alex was born to stand out, and his parents are making sure he knows that.
“If he made it through it, he's the toughest kid I know,” Jacob recalls thinking when he heard of Alex’s prognosis.
“We want to let him know that he is very much loved and he can do anything he puts his mind to,” Amanda said of her son.
Alex’s parents are overjoyed with how far their son has come, because a child who can walk through fire, can walk through anything.
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