CARROLLTON, Texas — When we first met 17-year-old Ethan Buckley, he insisted the only thing he needed more than shoes was to be famous.
But neither Ethan, nor his Dad, Jeff Buckley, expected this.
“I figured it would go viral within a family, but I didn’t know it would go viral like this," Jeff said.
As we first reported in January, everyone at Hebron High School loves Ethan and last year he worked as an office aide, running errands all over the school.
Because he has cerebral palsy, Ethan goes through one pair of shoes each month. That information made its way to Nike, which sent Ethan a free pair of shoes and made a promise to create better footwear for people with cerebral palsy.
“It feels incredible," Ethan said. "It feels like I can do anything.”
And that made a lot of other people want to do something.
Raven Brinson, midday host at KISS-FM, stopped by the school after seeing Ethan's story.
“It seems like he makes everybody else’s day, and we just wanted to do something to make his day or his year,” Brinson said.
Raven and her co-workers surprised Ethan with 15 pairs of shoes, which should get him through the year.
In addition, the school was flooded with emails from as far away as South Carolina. Many of those people wanted to buy Ethan shoes, including a few folks at the Department of Homeland Security.
“It’s mindblowing,” Ethan said.
“Sometimes we see what’s going on in the world and our hearts harden, but it’s kids like Ethan that soften our hearts and bring out the humanity in us,” Jeff said.
Those are some shoes we could all walk in.