From catching passes to catching his breath, Garrett Wilson‘s toughest battle came long before he donned Jets’ green. The 10th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, who’s been lighting up the gridiron, nearly had his light snuffed out before he could even open his eyes.

“Was a baby that came out and they were unsure if I was gonna make it, you know, to the next day,” Wilson revealed in a heart-wrenching interview with Taylor Rooks. The culprit? Lung complications had the newborn gasping for air while doctors delivered a grim prognosis.

For Kenny Wilson, Garrett’s father, those first moments weren’t filled with the usual dad jitters. Instead, he faced a gut punch of reality served cold by a doctor with “not much bedside manner.” Kenny recounted the chilling words: “Kids like this normally don’t make it through the night.” Talk about a fourth-quarter crisis, except this was just the kickoff of Garrett’s life.

This wasn’t the game plan Kenny had drawn up. As he put it, “I think I was upset for literally the whole time about it. I just was so prepared to move on to that next phase that having another son or another child was just something I didn’t necessarily want to do.” But life, like football, has a way of calling audibles.

That night, as Kenny held his son’s tiny hand–straight to the Big Coach upstairs. “God, I’m stupid,” he prayed, his voice cracking with the memory. “So I want you to forgive me for my ungratefulness and I want you to give my beautiful son a chance at his life.” Little did Kenny know, he was about to witness the greatest comeback story.

Fast forward to 2024, and Garrett Wilson isn’t just surviving – he’s thriving. The kid who once couldn’t catch his breath is now catching everything thrown his way. He’s the first Jets player since Keyshawn Johnson (1998-1999) to snag back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Not bad for a guy who, according to ESPN on June 25, 2024, has been playing QB roulette, catching passes from six different signal-callers in just two seasons.

But life, like the NFL, isn’t always a highlight reel. The 2023 season hit Garrett harder than any safety ever could. When Aaron Rodgers went down faster than a Jets fan’s hopes in Week 1, Wilson felt the air leave his lungs all over again. He called it “the worst year of my life,” echoing the struggle of his earliest days.

Yet, just as he did as a newborn, Garrett found a way to keep breathing, keep fighting. He leaned on the lessons learned from those first precarious days, and the wisdom of the man who spoke life into him from day one – his dad.

“I’ve had to find new ways to hack the happiness,” Wilson admitted to Taylor Rooks, channeling the same grit that saw him through his first night on Earth. “I can’t just be a result-based happiness. I gotta be strong in my faith. I gotta have hope.”

Garett Wilson’s grit turns setbacks into comebacks

If Garrett Wilson’s life were a football game, that dicey birth would’ve been a fumble on the opening kickoff. But like any great player, he didn’t let that early setback define the game.

Kenny Wilson, once reluctant about a fourth child, now marvels at the son who’s rewriting Jets receiving records. He penned a heartfelt letter when Garrett was drafted, reminding him to “pray so that when you look back on the arc of your life and you see you went through tough things, you’ll think, wow, I didn’t do it alone.” Those words hit differently when you remember Garrett’s arc started with a flatline.

The 2023 season tested Wilson like a grueling two-a-day in August heat. The Jets’ offense sputtered more than a ’72 Pinto, and frustrations mounted higher than the Empire State. Yet Wilson kept his cool.

“I have a vision of myself. I’m chasing it every day,” he declared, his eyes gleaming with the same determination that once kept a fragile newborn’s heart beating against the odds. “I’m just excited to get the opportunity to go out there and prove to the world what I can do, because I felt like I haven’t, and uh, maybe that’s the best thing about it, right? I still got a lot to give.”

As Garrett eyes the future, aiming to join the elite $23 million-per-season receiver club that eight wideouts crashed in 2024, one constant remains – the unwavering support of the man who refused to throw in the towel on him. “I’m just thankful that it was, you know, him that raised me,” Wilson said of his father, his voice thick with emotion. “I feel like me and his best days are still ahead of us.”

From battling for breath to battling for yards, he steps onto the field each Sunday; he carries with him not just the hopes of Jets fans, but the weight of a promise made in a hospital room years ago–a promise to live, to fight, and to soar.