Student-athlete overcomes devastating injuries, emerges with superhuman ability for numbers

WACO, Texas (KWTX/Gray News) – A student-athlete overcame a devastating injury and emerged with a superhuman ability for numbers.

Blake Hyland, 25, can perform mental calculations almost instantly. He can perform complex calculations that would leave the average person scratching their head, but his incredible math skills aren’t the most impressive thing about him.

Blake Hyland didn’t always have a superhuman talent for numbers. At the age of 14, he was an ordinary kid, a good student and a talented athlete, until one day he met with a tragic accident on the track.

“I was looking around and couldn’t see Blake. When he jumped and landed on the bare concrete at the edge of the pit, a huge commotion suddenly broke out in the foam pit. He immediately had a massive stroke and I ran over there and the paramedics arrived,” said his father, Pat Hyland.

Pat Hyland said he called his wife, Cindy Hyland, and told her their son had “had an accident.”

“He said, ‘You’re kidding.’ This is no joke,’” Pat Hyland said.

Blake Hyland was airlifted to Cooks Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, where he remained in a coma for seven weeks.

Cindy Hyland said things aren’t looking good for her son.

“They said he would probably spend the rest of his life in a nursing home,” she said. “Our whole world changed that night.”

Blake Hyland’s brain is starting to change, too.

“I had a watch on the dresser at the hospital. Suddenly he started focusing on the clock and counting everything, the ceiling tiles in the room, huge numbers, things. While we were there we bought him a watch for his birthday and had to take it off during therapy because all he thought about was time,” said Cindy Hyland.

After 16 months of intense therapy, Blake overcame all odds and was released from the hospital. He left with more than just scars. He left with a gift.

As Blake Hyland continued to heal, so did his almost superhuman connection to numbers and time.

“He’d wake up and say, ‘Dad, it’s 8:21 in Afghanistan,’ or ‘It’s after 30, whatever the time is.’ He was just starting to write down all these numbers, and whenever a nurse or therapist came in and mentioned something math-related, Blake would quickly start spouting all this information. Just not quickly and accurately,” Pat Hyland said.

His recovery defied all odds and after a year and a half of hard work, he did something doctors never thought he would do. He immediately went back to high school. He graduated on time and went to Texas Tech, where he graduated magnum cum laude.

Blake Hyland now works at Bitty and Beau’s Coffee Shop in Waco, Texas, 10 years after his accident. The store is known for hiring people with disabilities. He says he loves his job.

“I love interacting with people. I sing songs there. I do math and card tricks and more. “I love making people happy,” he said.

Blake Hyland wrote a book and has a popular TikTok account where she tells the joke of the day.

His family admires his ability to connect with people and make them smile.

“I see this all the time. People making comments to me saying, ‘I met Blake.’ It’s fun to be around him. He loves life. “Blake is already the man I want to be one day,” said Cindy Hyland.

When people meet him, he says, “they walk away with joy and happiness.”

Blake Hyland said the numbers make a lot of sense to him because they never change. “

“The numbers never change. English changes every day. History changes every day. Science changes. “The numbers always remain the same,” he said.

Related Posts