We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Devon Jorden a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Devon, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

In 2010, my son Seanton Jorden, who was 15 years old at the time, was playing video games at a friend’s house in our neighborhood. This was something he had done many times in the past, as this was one of the things he loved to do. Earlier that day, my son’s friend had used his pellet gun, which he had gotten for his birthday earlier that year. Usually, after he and his uncle or dad would use the gun, they would put it up. On this particular day, Friday, June 11, it was left in the room with the boys, my son, his friend who owned the gun and resided at the house, and another friend. The other friend, with whom my son was good friends, picked up the pellet gun while they were playing video games, pointed it at my son’s head, at point-blank range, and pulled the trigger. The pellet gun caused a traumatic brain injury, shattering into pieces inside my son’s brain. He was rushed via life flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, where he had to have emergency surgery to relieve the pressure in his brain. He survived the surgery, but after 3 months in the ICU, and another 6 months in rehabilitation facilities, my son came home, in a vegetative state, unable to walk, talk, or respond to commands, and required 24 hours of around-the-clock care. Our hope was that our son would fully recover, but when he didn’t, it took a toll on our family, which included my wife, Latrice Jorden, and my daughter, who at the time was 11 years old. Our strong faith-filled family was now dealing with doubt and despair, depression and confusion. Ultimately, by the grace of God, I decided that I did not want my son’s story to be just another tragedy. I had a vision to have my son’s story told on the stage, via a play, and I reached out to good friends of mine who were a part of a dynamic theater arts ministry called KHTB Productions. They agreed to produce a play that would tell of our son’s powerful story, before his injury and how passionate he was about helping others, and the tumultuous days afterward, to help others who have gone through difficult situations in life know that you can triumph over tragedy. In the process of producing the stage play, KHTB Productions and my family decided to pursue a mission called A2P, which stands for Awareness to Prevention, educating children, youth, and adults on gun safety and traumatic brain injury. Through this mission, we hope that there may be a paradigm shift in how we view gun safety, making it a priority for those who choose to own a gun. Also, educating people about traumatic brain injury and how to help prevent them from occurring. I’ve since also written a book, with the same title as the stage play that was produced and was a tremendous hit in 2023, called Waiting Room, The Seanton Jorden Story, which is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, and wherever books are sold online.

Devon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As noted on the previous question, it was because of my son’s tragedy that I discovered my gift to write. Birthed from my writings was an amazing stage play and a powerful book that has and is touching many lives. Also, from his tragedy a friendship became a joint mission to spread the word about gun safety and traumatic brain injury with KHTB Productions. No one is talking about solutions to our problem in our society regarding the lack of safety measures gun owners are provided. This is where KHTB Productions, through the arts, and our joint venture, are working hard to educate individuals via speaking engagements, book readings, school visits, and corporate presentations. Through this mission, we hope that there may be a paradigm shift in how we view gun safety, making it a priority for those who choose to own a gun. Also, educating people about traumatic brain injury is a must as statistics show that many of these injuries can be prevented. Waiting Room, The Seanton Jorden Story book which is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, and can be purchased directly from me via email (www.wr23thebook.com) is truly what I am most proud of. The stage play, that had the same name, was also a huge accomplishment that took more than 10 years to bring to the stage. Many lives were touched and changed the night of September 9, 2023, and over 500 were in attendance to witness this phenomenal stage play.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The fact that 14 years after my son’s tragic injury, in the midst of still having to take care of him daily ourselves with no assistance, our family, along with KHTB Productions continues to fight to spread the word about gun safety and traumatic injury. Many times we want to give up as our daily journey is a struggle to say the least, but what pushes us through our challenging times with our son is knowing that we are helping others and that through helping others we can make a difference in someone’s life

Have you ever had to pivot?

Though my beliefs about forgiveness are rooted in my spirituality, for many years I struggled with forgiving the young man who injured my son. I felt that I could never forgive him due to what I felt he took away from me, my only son. Not only my only son, but my hopes of seeing him continue to play basketball as he was a phenomenal athlete, my hopes of hearing him sing again as he was a talented solo singer and choir member at our church, hopes of hearing him preach one day as he was an aspiring preacher, hopes of seeing him graduate high school, go on to graduate from college, get married, have children, and so many others hopes that I could discuss for hours. Every time my son would get sick, or have to be rushed to the ER or spend weeks in the hospital with complications from his brain injury, the rage in me would flare up and unforgiveness and bitterness would reign. I knew though, that I needed to forgive to free myself of the agony I would suffer, but it seemed impossible to do so. It wasn’t until right before the portrayal of my family’s story in our stage play was performed that I realized that to truly free myself from the torment unforgiveness was causing me mentally, I had to forgive my son’s friend to free me from this pain. Once I did, the biggest weight was lifted off of me, and this pivot not only freed me but freed my son’s friend from the torment he suffered as well after the injury he caused to his friend.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.seantonstory.com
• Instagram: @seantonsstory
• Facebook: Waiting Room The Seanton Jorden Story
• Other: TikTok-@Seantons Story

Image Credits

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