Shawn Anderton and his mother, Diane, arrive at C.W. Day Park in Hanceville Saturday for a carnival in Shawn’s honor. It marked the first time Shawn had been home since suffering severe spinal cord injuries on spring break.

Shawn Anderton’s customized cleats tell everything you need to know about the infectiously positive teenager.

The Hanceville student-athlete has seen more struggles this year than the average kid in an entire lifetime, yet he’s never stopped adhering to the two words fate personally stamped on his footwear before disaster struck.

Never quit.

To understand Anderton’s struggles, you’ve got to go back to when they horrifically began.

It was March 29, and the boy was on spring break with his family in Panama City. Anderton innocently dove into a wave not far from shore. It caught his foot and caused him to accidentally over-rotate and faceplant in the sand.

He instantly went numb.

Two vertebrae had fractured in Anderton’s neck, and his limbs were rendered useless. He remained face down in the water for nearly half a minute.

As fate would have it — there’s a lot of that in Anderton’s tale — a nurse was nearby when his body let out. Suddenly, there were three. They mobilized the injured adolescent, kept him from slipping into shock and advised Anderton’s parents, Diane and Scottie, where best to hospitalize their son.

Following surgery in Panama City, Anderton was transferred first to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham and subsequently to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. During his stay at the latter, which is renowned for its spinal cord injury rehabilitation program, Anderton regained limited movement in his arms and legs.

But don’t forget the cleats. Did anyone?

Not Diane.

After all, she was the one who ordered them the night before the family left for vacation. Spring camp was quickly approaching for Anderton’s second season on the Hanceville football team, and she asked her son what he wanted on the back of each shoe. After a bit of thought, he went with “never quit.”

She gave the green light and made the purchase.

And then Anderton’s life was changed forever.

But the cleats still came — despite Diane’s initial instinct to cancel the order. They were shipped when Anderton was a patient on the fourth floor at the Shepherd Clinic. The ward’s motto?

“Hustle, hit, never quit.”

Coincidence? Not a chance, according to Diane. She said Anderton’s doctor, who’s in his 70s, cried when she showed him the specialized shoes.

“He was like, ‘God was getting him ready for the journey with a pair of cleats. I believe that,’” Diane told The Times. “Is that not amazing? That’s just one of those things that doesn’t happen.”

Anderton’s first trip back to Hanceville was for a community carnival held in his honor at C.W. Day Park. But first, he made a brief stop at home, where he used his recovering limbs to proudly compile 140 kills on Call of Duty.

“It was a great feeling,” Anderton told The Times of the hourlong Xbox session. “It made me feel normal again.”

From the minute he arrived at the carnival, the oft-smiling spirit was swallowed by a sea of family, friends, acquaintances and well-wishers. Anderton even playfully kicked a few folks who approached his wheelchair, just to prove he could.

“It’s a blessing from God. It really is,” he told The Times of his recovery up to that point. “It’s amazing to see what He’s doing to me.”

Want to discuss amazing? Then talk to anyone who was onsite for Hanceville’s homecoming against Holly Pond.

The evening started in the most emotional of fashions. There was nary a dry eye in the house as Anderton, proudly donning his No. 65 jersey, rose from his wheelchair and walked arm in arm with Jose Orozco and Tristian Collins for the coin toss.

Inspired by Anderton’s stroll, the Bulldogs bullied the Broncos for their first win of the fall. When the triumph was completed and coach Danny Miller was done speaking to the team, the players raised their hands to the sky before quickly realizing their mistake.

This was Anderton’s night, and there was no way the breakdown wasn’t going to brought to his level.

Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog.

“Whether he ever plays again or not, he’s on the team,” Miller told The Times. “We said from Day 1 after it happened, this is going to affect our team, our school and our community forever. It’s going to affect the way you do things and think about things.

“It’s something we’ve tried to rally our kids around. You get in tough situations and you think, I’ll just give up. That guy’s in a situation where that’s not an option. A lot of us need to take a lesson from that.”