Young baseball player finds inspiration to continue playing after partial-hand amputation

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - A little baseball player didn't let a freak accident kill his dreams, or change his attitude.

Landon Marazon became a partial-hand amputee after a horrific accident in his ATV. It occurred more than a year ago, but the 9-year-old life has changed since then.

"My daughter came running up the driveway and said, 'Landon is dead.' He got trapped under a side-by-side and that he needed my help," explained his mother, Nicole, to FOX 13. "There was no screaming or crying when I got to the scene. So, my initial thought was that my son is dead and I'm going to find him." 

The vehicle Landon was driving had flipped, pinning the boy underneath. Nicole was able to rock it enough to where Landon could slip out.

He was flown to Tampa General Hospital. Once they knew he was going to be OK, they started to think about how his life was going to be drastically different.

His life revolved around baseball 90 percent of the time. At first, his family thought a partial-hand amputation would be the end of that.

"How are you going to play baseball again? Where are we going to go from here? What is he going to do and where is he going to go from this?" Nicole Marazon remembers asking after the accident.

Landon's dad gave him some inspiration, though.

"After I started recovering, my dad showed me a video of a one-armed catcher and his trick of flipping the glove. I tried the same trick and I started to take lessons, started to play and before I knew it, I got back out on the field." Landon explained.

After surgeries, skin grafts, rehabilitation with Tampa General Hospital, Landon was back on the field playing -- four months after the accident/

Landon's new normal is nothing short of inspirational.

"This happened to him and to our family for a reason," Nicole said. "I don't know what that reason is and I might not ever know what that reason but I know we're living out what is meant for Landon -- to inspire people. Where there is a will, there is a way."

"He is going to continue to show us and continue to prove to us that nothing is going to stop him."