Shawn Bradley, also known as The Stormin’ Mormon, used his impressive 7-foot-6 frame to throw more than 2,000 blocks in his NBA career. Bradley wasn’t a prolific scorer, but he proved his worth on defense. Unfortunately, an unfortunate biking incident damaged Shawn’s spine, preventing any downward movement of the chest.
Bradley’s wife, Carrie Cannon, wrote on Instagram that the family had traded the Hellcat for Shawn’s wheelchair. A recent article on Sports Illustrated detailing Shawn’s condition revealed that the wheelchair weighs nearly 500 pounds and took three months to design. Let’s take a closer look at Shawn Bradley’s wife, Carrie Cannon.
Carrie Cannon has been Bradley’s main support after his spinal injury
After Bradley’s accident, Carrie picked up her bike and rushed to the hospital. She waited outside the operating room, unaware of the extent of her husband’s injuries. In the ICU, Bradley tried to say ‘I love you’ to Carrie, but all he could do was move an arm and point her finger in her direction.
By then, doctors had diagnosed Bradley as a C6 quadriplegic, meaning he had lost feeling and function in his upper ribs. Three months after the incident, Carrie and the Mavs released a statement thanking the public for their support in helping Bradley’s recovery.
So used to relying on Bradley for support, Carrie became Bradley’s anchor. When Shawn was in the hospital, he would bring food and exchange smiles with the staff. However, when he got home, emotions spilled over into waves of tears.
“It is not the person who is involved in the accident,” he said. Sports Illustrated. “It is a domino effect. Our family has changed forever.”
Cannon has become one of Bradley’s caretakers. She bathes him, shaves him, and occasionally helps with bowel cleansing. Individual and couples therapy has helped Carrie and Shawn deal with the new dynamic. “I didn’t ask him to do this,” Bradley said. “This is not what ‘in sickness and in health’ normally means.”
Carrie and Shawn tried to have a date night after he was released from the hospital, but moving Bradley proved too difficult for her. “I love him and I was so happy I never wanted to tell him,” Carrie said. Bradley sometimes sees himself as a burden, which invariably leads to disturbing thoughts.
“Maybe it would be better if all this ended,” he said. “Yes, those thoughts creep in and they are real. I can never imagine acting on those thoughts, but I definitely do.”
Cannon is a source of infinite positivity. Her Instagram posts portray her as a woman who accepted fate and chose happiness. She captioned a May 2021 post of her kissing Shawn in the hospital bed as follows:
Shawny and I are incredibly blessed to have found each other. And with the ever-changing circumstances we live in, we’re lucky enough to go through the madness together. So grateful for an everlasting perspective and for those who have truly helped not only Shawny, but our entire family as this process impacts not only the patient but the caregivers as well.”
Bradley adopted Carrie’s children after their biological father left
Bradley and Carrie had children in other relationships before getting married. Shawn and his ex-wife Annette Evertson had six children: Chelsea, Ciera, Charity, Cheyenne, Chase and Chance. Carrie and her ex-partner had three children: Haylie, Dubbie and Max.
In January 2020, Carrie wrote on Instagram that the father of her children had relinquished his parental rights, causing mental chaos for the children. Cooney’s ex-partner had abandoned the family for years before finally disowning them.
On the other hand, the desertion of their ex-partner filled them with relief since their decisions could no longer affect the children. He also allowed Bradley to adopt Carrie’s children. She wrote:
“They are equally overwhelmed with joy at the opportunity to be adopted by the father figure who has been such a positive influence in helping raise them for the past two years. Shawn and I are truly grateful for the opportunity to continue raising these amazing, resilient children and feel so blessed to be together forever as a family.”
Bradley and Carrie’s blended family featured their three children and their two sons. “I’ve never been this busy, bro,” Shawn said. TMZ. “I have 5 teenagers at home, I have a new family, a new home. It’s crazy.”
Carrie told him Sports Illustrated that their children benefited from having a stable father figure. Bradley spent a decade as an assistant principal at a Utah school for at-risk teens, so he knew how to deal with struggling kids.
Shawn helped Max cope with his birth father’s unexpected appearance at his soccer game; he cheered to a despondent Dubbie on the roof of his house; Shawn helped Haylie deal with her resentment towards men, stemming from seeing her mother endure suffering at the hands of her father.
Bradley is no longer as involved in the children’s lives as he once was, but he remains a valuable source of advice. Connie wrote on Instagram that she feels a little guilty about enjoying the key moments of the kids without Bradley. She wrote:
“These are life-changing events that Shawny would never have expected to miss, and help would definitely have been welcome. Instead of enjoying the children’s accomplishments and finding excitement in their new adventures, I felt overwhelmed with guilt that I couldn’t be in two places at once. My life lesson at this moment is: live AND ENJOY the present, whatever and wherever it is…”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn