Originally published 2020-08-12.
Odin Frost and Jordan Granberry, two young men from Tyler, Texas, graduated from high school together in the summer of 2020, at 18. Both had suffered brain injuries from a lack of oxygen around birth, and their families say doctors once gave each of them about a 2 percent chance of surviving childhood. They met on their first day of school and stayed best friends for the next 15 years.
Their story spread after Odin’s father, Tim Frost, posted a pair of photos on Reddit: the boys as small children on day one of school, and the two of them again on graduation day.
Born weeks apart in the same intensive care unit
According to the family’s account to reporters, Odin’s mother developed preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication involving high blood pressure. During his birth Odin was deprived of oxygen, and he was flown to a neonatal intensive care unit nearby. Jordan, who had also suffered brain damage from oxygen loss, had left that very NICU about two weeks before Odin arrived. The families did not know each other then.
The prognosis the parents describe was bleak. Tim Frost wrote that both boys were expected to have a survival rate of around 2 percent, that they might never walk, and that if they lived past seven they could be in a vegetative state. These figures come from the families’ memories of what they were told; the medical records are private, so they cannot be independently checked.
Oxygen deprivation around birth can affect children very differently, depending on how long it lasts, which parts of the brain are affected and the care that follows. That uncertainty is one reason families sometimes hear grim early predictions that later turn out to be wrong. Parents facing a similar situation should talk to their child’s doctors, who can explain what is known about that particular case.
A friendship that did not need words
The boys met about three years after Odin was born, on their first day of school. Neither of them could speak, but they found other ways to talk: looks, gestures and, according to the families, a shared love of music. Tim later explained to CNN how close they were from the start.
My son and his best friend, both told their survival rate would be around 2%, never walk, and live in a vegetative state if they made it past 7 years, both walked the stage and graduated tonight!!! (Left pic is from the first day of school. The right is from graduation this evening) from r/MadeMeSmile
“Neither one of them could speak, but wherever the other one was, they were always together,” Tim said. As Odin learned to walk while Jordan continued to use a wheelchair, the bond did not fade. Tim described his son pulling himself up to push Jordan’s chair, standing next to him and acting as his protector.
Over the years the two were not always placed in the same class, yet they stayed almost inseparable, and their families became friends too, often getting together outside school.
Graduating in the summer of 2020
The pair finished school in a year when the COVID-19 pandemic upended every celebration. Odin missed a normal birthday party and a traditional ceremony, but both young men were still able to cross a stage in their caps and gowns. The families marked the moment by popping a bottle of champagne together.
When Tim shared the before-and-after photos on the r/MadeMeSmile forum, thousands of strangers replied. So many asked to see Odin walk that Tim posted a follow-up with a link to the video, joking that his son resembled Freddie Mercury.
I’m the dad of the boy who looks like Freddy Mercury. Haha. I’ve had over 1000 messages of people wanting to see him walk the stage so I thought I would link the video. Thank you all. You made this day way more special for my son. https://www.instagram.com/p/CCuPz4flRyV/?igshid=1og10wht2a0xg from r/MadeMeSmile
The video itself was posted to Instagram. Tim told FOX 5 that Odin was “on cloud 99 feeling like a superstar,” and the family hoped the story might reach Odin’s favourite band, The Roots.
A post shared by Tim Frost (@quaruntim) on
How the story spread
Within days, the reunion of the two photographs had been picked up by CNN, FOX stations across the United States, CBS and inspirational sites such as InspireMore and Upworthy. Part of the appeal is visual: the same two faces, side by side, 15 years apart. Part of it is the simple fact of a friendship lasting from kindergarten to graduation, which few people manage at all.
The Frost family also kept sharing daily, upbeat videos of Odin on Instagram, which gave followers a glimpse of everyday life beyond the headline moment.
What early predictions can and cannot tell families
Stories like this are often summed up as tales of beating the odds, and in one sense that is fair: the boys did far more than their families were told to expect. But it is worth being careful with the lesson. Percentages given in the first days of life are estimates, made with limited information. Some children do better than predicted and others do not, and neither outcome is a measure of how hard a child or family tried.
What families in similar situations often say helps most is practical: steady medical follow-up, therapy that fits the child, a school that includes them, and friends. Odin and Jordan had the last of these in each other.
Why this friendship matters
It would be easy to tell this as a story about disability. It is really a story about two people choosing each other, day after day, for 15 years. They communicated without speech, adapted when their abilities changed, and turned up for each other’s big moments.
Their graduation does not need to set a standard that other disabled young people must meet. It is simply a joyful milestone for two friends and two families who had been warned they might never see it. For everyone else, it is a reminder that friendship can grow in any language, including one made of glances, music and a hand on a wheelchair.
Sources: InspireMore, Ashley Ziegler, July 2020 (citing CNN); FOX 13, “Best friends given 2% survival rate at birth beat the odds and walked the graduation stage together” (July 2020); photos and video shared by Tim Frost on Reddit and Instagram.
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