When Jonathon Rosas won the teen hot dog eating contest at this year’s River Days, he got a $100 bill, a trophy, and a moment his grandma says meant more than most people could ever understand.
Because not long ago, Jonathon’s family was not sure he would survive.
His grandmother, Karen Cole-Keyes, contacted SCDN to share what she calls her grandson’s remarkable comeback after a devastating ATV crash.
Jonathon was badly injured in an ATV accident on September 28 after his childhood best friend invited him over to spend the night and the two went for a ride.
She said there was a car stopped in the road, and the ATV swerved and flipped.
Jonathon was seriously hurt when the ATV hit a tree.
He was flown from the scene in West Portsmouth to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where doctors rushed to relieve pressure from brain swelling.
From there, he was flown to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, where he spent months recovering.
Karen said Jonathon suffered severe brain trauma, lost an eye, could not talk, could not walk, and had no feeling on his right side.
But after months of intense therapy, she said he has made incredible progress.
Now, Jonathon can talk. He sometimes struggles with speech, but Karen said he makes his wants known. He can also walk with a walker.
To his family, every step is a victory.
Karen said Jonathon had been a straight-A student at Wheelersburg High School before the crash and described him as the kind of kid every parent hopes for.
“He don’t smoke. He don’t vape,” she said, explaining that Jonathon was focused on doing well in school before the accident changed everything.
Karen said doctors feared the worst, and Jonathon coded several times at Cabell Huntington before being brought back.
She believes he is here because of faith, prayer, medical care, and a whole lot of determination.
“He truly, truly is a miracle,” she said.
Karen is raising Jonathon, his sister, and his little brother after the death of her only child, Jonathon’s mother, who died at 36 from heart disease.
She said she and Jonathon’s grandfather are both disabled and barely making it, though the community has helped the family, especially around back-to-school time.
That is why the River Days win hit so hard.
For many people, a hot dog eating contest is just a funny fair memory.
For Jonathon, it was proof that he is still here, still fighting, and still able to enjoy life after everything he has been through.
Karen said he was “tickled to death” to win the contest.
And after months of hospitals, therapy, fear, prayers, and setbacks, that trophy was more than a trophy.
It was a comeback moment.