2 months ago, he was fighting for his life. Thursday, he jumped his way to track regional.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Darion Highbaugh leaned on the fence about 50 feet away from where his son, Darion Highbaugh II, was attempting to advance through the sectional in the high jump Thursday night at Lawrence Central.

At a glance, there was nothing unusual about this scene. Highbaugh’s wife, Keny, watched her son, too, with their 13-year-old son, Khamani, and 11-year old daughter, Devon. But as Highbaugh watched his son, he saw it through eyes of a “changed man.”

Just two months earlier, Highbaugh did not know if his son would live, let alone compete again as an athlete.

“It was the hardest fight of his life,” Highbaugh said. “I can’t question his fight and his relentlessness. I always say he’s resilient. I love that about him. I wish had had that more when I was younger. He has that Teflon skin for what life throws at him.”

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It was barely two months ago, just a few days after North Central’s basketball season ended in the sectional against Lawrence North. Highbaugh II, who played on the junior varsity basketball team, had just started track practice, looking to build off his best high jump of 6-foot as a sophomore.

Highbaugh II was battling a sore throat during those first couple days of practice. At one of the practices, he bruised his arm while falling on the mat during one of his jump attempts. Those two unrelated events hardly seemed important.

“I told him he needed to get some rest, drink water and he would be good,” said his mother, Keny. “But things started to change and get worse.”

Darion’s arm started to swell. Keny gave him Benadryl. No help. Darion threw up. His parents rushed him to the emergency room at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent. As he waited, his condition worsened. Darion’s body had gone into septic shock, a severe response to the infection.

In serious cases, sepsis can cause organ failure and potentially be deadly.

“The worst moment of my life,” Keny said. “There were great doctors helping him. But … we didn’t know at one point what to expect. The first day we prayed and prayed and believed the doctors could do their job.”

Word got back to Darion’s friends, who could hardly believe what they were hearing. Darion was a picture of health, standing 6-4 and weighing 185 pounds. As it turned out, his age and health might have saved his life.

“I was in the best shape of my life coming out of basketball,” he said. “My stamina was great. The doctor told me the only reason I survived was because of how active I was.”

Doctors performed four surgeries on Darion over the next six days to ensure the infection had not spread. He stayed in the intensive care unit for several days. Doctors performed skin grafts on his arm, taking skin from his leg to replace what was taken out from the infection during the surgeries.

“I saw him the day he got initially sick and told him he didn’t look right,” North Central track coach Robert Geile said. “It wasn’t ‘sick sick.’ It was worse. I told him to go home and talk to your parents. I got really emotional when I heard he was in the hospital. There was word that he could die.”

During his two weeks total in the hospital, Darion lost almost 30 pounds. Even when he was allowed to leave, no one expected him to come back to the high jump.

“First day he comes back to my classroom, he’s in a full arm cast,” Geile said. “First thing he said was, ‘I want to jump. I’m going to jump.’ I said, ‘Do whatever your doctor tells you to do. I’m never going to do anything until your doctor tells you.’ His legs were still jelly at that point.”

But little by little, Darion worked his way back. He started physical therapy and though he still does not have full range of his left arm, he quickly made progress. Amazingly, he was cleared for the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference meet on April 26.

“The first practice he came back, I knew he was going to make it back,” said North Central junior Caleb Rienstra-Kiracofe, one of Darion’s closest friends. “You could see it in him. He’s always smiling, always trying to pick people up. I think positive attitude really helped him.”

At the MIC meet, Highbaugh cleared 5-6 on his second attempt. Not close to his personal record. But it did not matter. He was back.

“I couldn’t even get 5-foot at first,” he said. “But I just kept working and working, trying to get that muscle back that I’d lost.”

Two weeks later, at the Marion County meet, Darion jumped 6-foot to take seventh place. He tried 6-2 but missed on all three attempts. He took seventh place.

Going into Thursday’s sectional, Darion knew he had a chance to finish in the top three and advance. Competing with Brebeuf Jesuit’s Jay Hmurovich and Purdue Poly’s Antwan Dorsett was unlikely, but the third spot appeared up for grabs.

“Projected fifth but not everybody is going to jump their max,” he said before the sectional.

Darion cleared 5-8, 5-10 and 6-foot on his first attempts. Just four high jumpers remained: Hmurovich, Dorsett, Highbaugh II and Elijah Cuttino of Riverside. The first three passed on the 6-1 attempt, but Cuttino got it on his last attempt. That put the pressure on Darion to clear 6-2, which he did again on his first attempt. Cuttino got it, too, but did it on his third try.

That put Darion in third place behind Hmurovich and Dorsett, who each cleared 6-7.

“On to next week!” Darion said as he heard his name announced over the loudspeaker. “My teammates and family have been supporting me all the way through this. That’s probably one of the biggest reasons I was able to do this.”

The skin grafts on Darion’s left arm are easy to see. But he doesn’t hide them, either. He figures this is part of his story now.

“I’m just grateful that I survived it and that I’m here to jump at all,” he said. “I get sad at times when people say something about it or say, ‘What happened?’ all the time. But it’s nothing to be sad about. I’ve got my own story. The scar and everything — that’s me.”

Darion Highbaugh watched his son fight for his life and will himself back to health. Back to the track. He raised the bar and cleared it — literally. And something about watching his son do that has changed something in him, too.

“Our relationship has always been very close,” Highbaugh said. “But I think I’ve learned more of a lesson from all this from him. I’ve been able to sit back and just enjoy that he’s here and enjoy my family more. I don’t take that for granted.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Months after septic shock, Darion Highbaugh II returns to high jump