Javan Ah Quin, 17, has overcome many obstacles ever since he was little.

In third grade, Javan’s mom, Wailani Ah Quin, was driving when another car ran a red light, resulting in a life-threatening accident.

“I blacked out. My window was down and someone stopped to try and wake me up but I could not move at all,” Wailani said.

Wailani suffered spinal stenosis and sciatic nerve damage after the accident. She still undergoes many different aches and discomforts in some parts of her body.

“My left hand and feet get swollen," Wailani said. "I need to have a cane with me because I don’t know when my back is going to give out,”

Wailani had physical therapy every day for two years, and she still takes cortisone shots every three months.

“My family was really down because I wasn’t out and about to really help them. My husband stayed home a lot and I could hardly walk. When I started driving afterwards, I’d get scared, I would have anxiety attacks,” Wailani said.

During the recovery, Javan’s dad, Choy, was a welder machinist in Miami, Arizona.

When Javan was in sixth grade, the welding company lost its contract in Arizona. Choy and his co-workers had to travel on the road for four years.

“It was hard not having my dad around, and being the oldest kid trying to help my mom raise his kids was tough,” Javan said.

Javan has two brothers and two sisters, all younger, and he was responsible for taking care of them at a young age.

Since Javan’s mother was disabled and his dad was working on the road, he was responsible for making sure all his siblings woke up and got to school on time.

Javan would have to leave the house at 6:15 a.m. every morning to get all his siblings to school. After school, Wailani would pick everyone up and at times the family would not get home until 10:30 p.m.

Once the family was home, Javan had to make sure everyone in the house showered, ate and did all their homework.

“It was hard for him not to show any emotion but you can tell at times he would get frustrated because he was so young and his younger siblings did not want to listen to him,” Wailani said.

Although the hard times might have affected him at home, this did not take away from his performance in the classroom.  

Javan has a 3.7 GPA, and he is in the National Honors Society. No matter the hardship, Javan’s mom always pushed him to be the best in school.

“We teach them to get their academics, and have their diploma and try and go as far as they can after that. Focus on school and everything else comes afterwards,” Wailani said.

In addition, Javan credits his parents for his athleticism.

“My mom went to college for softball and my dad played a lot of college sports, so our family revolved around sports ever since we were little,” Javan said.

Javan’s brother, Jaden, is a preeminent athlete as well. He is a freshman on the varsity wrestling team at Chandler High and took third in sectionals and went to state in his first season.

Javan is a star at both football and baseball but football is his main sport.

He has multiple college offers from Lake Forest, Monmouth, Dixie State, Arizona Christian University, La Verne and many more.

Wailani said some schools offered him to play both football and baseball.

Now, Javan can focus more on his academics and sports.

“He is way better and he has less responsibilities which means less pressure off him. He can be more of a kid now,” Wailani said.