{"id":280293,"date":"2026-05-22T02:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T02:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280293\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T02:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T02:18:10","slug":"teen-basketball-star-graduates-high-school-from-his-miami-hospital-bed-sun-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280293\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen basketball star graduates high school from his Miami hospital bed \u2013 Sun Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

High school student Daniel Alexis experienced the traditional pomp and circumstance of graduation in a non-traditional way on Thursday: from his hospital bed in Miami.<\/p>\n

Three counties away, the teenager\u2019s mother, Lina Alexis, walked across the stage at her son\u2019s graduation ceremony in Port St. Lucie to accept his diploma amid loud cheers from her son\u2019s friends. Daniel, dressed in a black cap and gown, watched on a large television screen surrounded by the extensive medical team who has kept him alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so incredibly proud of you, your success, what you have endured, and look at how far you have come,\u201d Victor Ospina, UHealth executive director of nursing, said during a graduation party for Daniel put on by staff at UHealth.<\/p>\n

It has been an incomprehensible 4\u00bd months for 19-year-old Daniel, who spent much of that time in a coma, or as his doctor describes it, \u201ca grave neurological state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel\u2019s ordeal started with a sinus infection.<\/p>\n

A dedicated basketball player at Port St. Lucie High School, Daniel hadn\u2019t shown up to practice for a big upcoming game. After a call from the coach, Lina Alexis found her son unconscious on the floor of their home.<\/p>\n

It was just two days after Christmas, and doctors at a nearby hospital told Lina Alexis her son\u2019s sinus infection had spread to his brain and he was unlikely to have neurological improvement. He needed to be transferred to UHealth, where a neurology team awaited.<\/p>\n

Daniel was airlifted that evening to UHealth, where he underwent emergency surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough,\u201d his mother said, recalling that evening. \u201cHe had a lot wrong with him. I relied on my faith and I prayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Ashish Shah<\/a>, a neurosurgeon at UHealth, said he removed Daniel\u2019s skull to take out the infection and give his brain room to expand.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of how long he had been in a coma, we were nervous about his recovery,\u201d Shah said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Following the initial surgery, Shah said his team identified the source of the infection within the brain and treated it with antibiotics. The sinus infection had turned into a rare condition known as Pott\u2019s puffy tumor, which left Daniel in a near brain-dead state with no movement in either eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole time he was in the coma, I talked to him,\u201d Lina Alexis said. \u201cHe is my only child and I told him how much I love him and that I know it is a bad situation, but I am here to fight with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Alexis and his high school diploma. (UHealth\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Shah said Daniel underwent three operations: The first to take the pressure off his brain, the second to eliminate the source of infection at the base of his skull, and the third to put the bone back in his skull.<\/p>\n

For the surgeon, knowing that the brains of healthy young people have neuroplasticity and adaptability factored into surgical decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we could be aggressive to treat him,\u201d Shah said.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Daniel improved and began moving his hands and blinking. Slowly, he has begun to say words.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Daniel said \u201cthank you\u201d to the staff for the celebration.<\/p>\n

The event at UHealth marks more than a high school graduation. It also marks Daniel\u2019s transition from in-patient care at the UHealth Tower to acute rehabilitation at the UHealth\/Jackson Lynn Rehab Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysical therapists at UM and Jackson will work with Daniel to overcome limitations,\u201d Shah said. \u201cWe expect a good recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lina Alexis says she expects a full recovery. \u201cI know he is getting better and will come back to me. He\u2019s a fighter and an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a situation similar to Daniel\u2019s<\/a>, 15-year-old Aedan Jones also had a sinus infection that led to bacteria seeping into his brain, about the same time in December. Jones, an athlete like Daniel, was operated on at Holtz Children\u2019s Hospital and underwent multiple brain surgeries. Afterward, he received physical, occupational and speech therapy, to regain his full function.<\/p>\n

Pediatric neurosurgeons across the U.S. are collaborating to determine why young people have been experiencing sinus infections that spread to the brain more often in the last few years.<\/p>\n

South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High school student Daniel Alexis experienced the traditional pomp and circumstance of graduation in a non-traditional way on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[28,571,225,227,226,114,266,123,373,115,109],"class_list":["post-280293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-florida","tag-health","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-miami","tag-miami-dade-county","tag-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}