Chris Oats returns to the football field. ‘It’s a blessing to see him overcome so much.’

With about 150 youth campers assembled and eagerly anticipating their arrival Saturday morning, a dozen Kentucky football players emerged from the Beechwood High School athletic center.

Led by a familiar face, the group flowed single file down a ramp and made its way toward the field. There, with one player passing a microphone to the next, they went down the line, introducing themselves to the kids.

When the microphone finally reached the end, the Wildcat that had led his teammates out of the fieldhouse rose up out of his wheelchair. Clearly overcome by emotion, he took a few seconds to gain his composure. Then he spoke to the crowd.

“Chris Oats. Cincinnati, Ohio. Linebacker.”

To anyone who knows the young man’s story, it was a moving moment.

Oats came to Kentucky out of Winton Woods High School in Cincinnati as a highly touted member of the program’s 2018 recruiting class. He emerged as an immediate contributor during his first two years with the team and was projected as a starter for the 2020 season.

And then tragedy struck.

Oats suffered a stroke in May 2020, and it has been a long and arduous road to recovery.

For a few hours Saturday, he was back in his happy place. On the football field, surrounded by his friends and teammates, passing on his love of the game to an eager group of young kids, each of them wearing a “Chris Oats Football Camp” T-shirt.

“As you could see, he’s just so excited,” his mother, Kem Gamble, said during the camp. “He got a little choked up when he stood up and said his name and stuff. But he’s excited. And we are so blessed and so happy that the BBN — and everybody now — has taken an interest in (his recovery). We get text messages, encouraging words. And that’s what we need. We need encouraging words to keep him going.

“And being around his friends? Being around his brothers? That was just the icing on the cake. When he went in that locker room, it was amazing.”

Before the team came out onto the field, they shared some time together with Oats in the Beechwood locker room. Most of the Wildcats who worked the camp Saturday weren’t yet on the team when Oats suffered the stroke two years ago. But some of them played alongside him at Kentucky, and they were eager to see him in person — the first opportunity to do so in several months.

“He went in there. They hugged. They dapped up. I got kicked out,” Gamble said with a laugh. “So after that, I don’t know what happened.”

Oats’ mother explained what has become the normal process for the times that her son gets to be around his teammates in a football setting. The family gets him to the locker room, and his football family takes over from there. It’s usually either DeAndre Square or Keaton Upshaw, she said, who takes the lead and assures her that they’ve got it covered.

“Every time he goes into the locker room, he’s at home,” she said. “They look over him. They care for him. And I like that, because it’s hard to find that brotherhood out here. And that’s what Kentucky’s about. They meant what they said about being a brotherhood and love. So we thank y’all.”

Chris Oats’ progress

Even with more than two years now passed, it’s a tough situation to talk about for those who knew Oats best before the stroke. Square choked up when the subject came up at SEC Football Media Days earlier in the week. It’s difficult to see their friend having to go through such a difficult process, but Saturday morning brought a little joy to the situation.

Kentucky’s players hadn’t seen Oats in person since he came to cheer on the team at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando on New Year’s Day. A lot has happened since then. He’s smiling and talking. He’s able to shake his teammates’ hands. Physically, there have been noticeable gains.

“He’s just been improving in all aspects, and it’s really good to see,” Square said with a smile.

Oats and his family returned a couple of weeks ago from a three-month stay in Miramar, Florida, where he received specialized rehabilitation that resulted in some significant strides in his recovery.

Gamble described the time spent in Florida as a major step in his process. Before this, there were few positives along the way, but the past few months have brought some breakthroughs, and a more optimistic outlook for the future.

“It was more personal to me,” she said. “Because, as a mom, I was told he would never be able to do this, he would never be able to do that. And to me — while never giving up hope — I felt like, ‘OK, if we go down here and this doesn’t work, what is that saying?’

“So I’m like, ‘I need something. I need something.’ And when he made that first step and he took that step, I was like, ‘Thank you.’”

Earlier this month, the family posted a video of Oats taking steps with assistance.

Gamble said her son is also now able to stand more and for longer periods of time. He’s back in a regular bed at home — a hospital bed is no longer required — and he’s remarked that there aren’t as many “hospital things” in his room these days.

“He’s able to be a lot more independent,” his mom said. “His confidence — that’s the thing. It’s, ‘OK, I can do this.’”

Before, he didn’t feel like he was making any progress. Now, he’s seeing the steps. Lifting his leg. Standing on his own. There’s a long, long way to go, but there’s also a newfound sense of hope for getting there.

Gamble said the stay in Florida included a much more intense rehab process than Oats had received previously. She used the analogy that it was more like “two-a-days” with the football team, and she said her son attacked the process like he would approach practices with Kentucky.

She acknowledged that there have been times throughout this process where she’s thought, “Is this it?” Is this as far as he’s going to get?

“But with Chris, it’s never, ‘Is this it?’ It’s like, ‘Man, can you just move my leg, and I’ll move it the rest of the way?’ He proves that over and over,” she said. “When they tell him, ‘This is it,’ he moves another step. So, for me, it was more like, ‘We need this.’ And it helped so much that we’re like, ‘We have to go back.’”

Supporting Chris Oats

Gamble said the facility in Florida wanted to keep Oats longer, but it wasn’t possible financially. The care he received there is not covered by insurance, and the last two years have been an expensive journey for Oats and his family, even with the generous donations they’ve received, much of that money coming from Kentucky football fans who have followed the recovery process.

Oats’ mother has been blown away by the support.

“I tell people all the time. If it wasn’t for everybody that’s caring and people that want to help — we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in,” she said. “We come from nothing. This threw a big monkey wrench in our lives. So, thank you.”

Saturday’s camp was the latest effort to help.

A significant portion of the money raised is headed to the Chris Oats Foundation, which was set up to aid him and other young stroke victims.

On Saturday morning, UK quarterback Will Levis stood at one corner of the Beechwood field, flicking passes to the young campers.

“When we had the opportunity to come out here and do this, it was a no-brainer for all of us to come and help such a great cause,” Levis said. “I didn’t know Chris until I got here, but when I heard about his story, I was very moved by it. And we just have to do anything we can to support him and get behind him and his family.”

Around midfield, Square and J.J. Weaver — two players who were close to Oats before his stroke — presided over the camp’s linebacker drills. Oats was stationed just a few yards away, watching the players at his position group intently. After a few minutes, he again rose up out of his wheelchair and stood with the assistance of a walker, smiling and looking on.

“It’s a blessing to see Chris doing this,” Weaver said. “He’s smiling. He’s happy. It’s an honor to be one of his brothers that could be here with him at this camp. … It’s a blessing to see him overcome so much.”

For the time being, Oats is back home and regrouping with his family. Gamble said the hope is to return to Florida next June for a four-month stint, with the optimism for more breakthroughs in his recovery. In the meantime, Gamble said her son is thinking about trying to take some online classes this fall. And their short-term goal is to equip him with a standing frame, which would get him out of a wheelchair and improve his mobility.

Fans can still give to Oats’ recovery efforts through the foundation at 22OatsStrong.com, which is 501(c)3 organization and tax-deductible.

During a water break midway through Saturday’s camp, UK offensive lineman Kenneth Horsey spoke about the adversity that the team had endured during his four years. The loss of Kentucky’s beloved O-line coach, John Schlarman; the cancer diagnosis of Joshua Paschal; the situation that Oats is now battling through.

He said watching friends and mentors fight through that adversity has led him and others to dig deep through their own challenges. It’s clear that those who played alongside Oats keep him in their minds, even if they might go months at a time without seeing his face.

And Saturday’s camp showed once again that Oats still has plenty of people in his corner, when he needs the help.

“We get to give back to the community — have some fun with the kids,” Horsey said. “But we also get to give back to a great cause. We all know and understand how much Chris means to us. We all love him and support him. And just want to do everything we can to help him in this process — take any weight off the shoulders of the family that we can. That’s our responsibility — us who knew Chris, us who really got the opportunity to know and love him as a person.

“It’s always good to see him, any time we can. He always gives us motivation to just push even harder. When you think about that ‘Why?’ When you think about something you push for when things get tough. It’s people like that. It’s Oats. It’s those people that we have to remind ourselves that we’re doing it for.”