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“Something is always lost after a surgery, so Chucky (Mullins)’s example, or I guess grace, after his injury is something I try to emulate, and I hope I’m doing an okay job in that regard,” Abby Loden said.
Loden, a 2012 graduate of Ole Miss from Fulton, Mississippi, received the Chucky Mullins Endowment, the scholarship established in his name to help students with disabilities attending Ole Miss offset the costs of a college education. The scholarship is supported by donations from the Great 38 Race, the annual set of weekend races that ends on the 38-yard line of Vaught Hemingway Stadium. Mullins wore number 38.
Mullins was an Ole Miss football player in the late 1980s and was paralyzed during the 1989 homecoming game against Vanderbilt. He died in 1991 from the injuries sustained on the field.
“I grew up an Ole Miss fan and have known about what happened to Chucky Mullins most of my life,” Loden said.
In high school, Loden was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis Type 2. The disease prevents her body from producing the amount of the tumor-suppressor gene “Merlin” that it needs, so tumors can develop anywhere in the body, especially along nerves.
The disorder, which has no treatment, causes a wide range of issues, depending on where the tumors form. Loden is now deaf, with full facial paralysis, poor balance, a weak right arm because of tumor removals following her college graduation, tumors in her brain, the spinal cord and no working facial nerve.
She had her first two surgeries in 2009, and while the first was successful, the second resulted in a brain hemorrhage while doctors were removing a vestibular schwannoma, which is a benign tumor. Though this required her to undergo rehabilitation, she finished quicker than doctor’s expected and was able to re-enroll at Ole Miss just seven months after surgery.
“I used Chucky’s ‘Never Quit’ motto to continue to push myself,” Loden said.
In the years that followed, she has undergone several rounds of chemotherapy and is currently in treatment. She has also had Gamma Knife radiation to treat a tumor.
Loden, who served on then-Chancellor Dan Jones’ Committee on Accessibility, is now the sports coordinator for The Itawamba County Times. She also does disability accessibility advocacy work at Ole Miss.
She started receiving the scholarship from the Chucky Mullins Endowment the second semester of her freshman year, and said that when she returned to school following surgery, it helped her to finish her studies. As for her surgeries, she participated in a National Institute of Health study and had both done there, so they took care of her medical expenses.
“When I came back after being out a semester after a surgery, it helped a great deal,” Loden said. “By helping with my tuition like it did, it helped to make the final two-and-a-half years less stressful.”
The Great 38 Race Weekend, the annual running event that will complete its fourth year this weekend, commemorates Chucky Mullins and donates its proceeds to an endowment that helps students like Loden.
In each of its three years, the race raised $5,000, donating $15,000 in total to the Chucky Mullins endowment.
The event is hosted by Ole Miss Athletics and Run Oxford. Marvin King, an associate professor of political science and African American Studies at Ole Miss, has served as race director since its inception.
“All of us at Run Oxford take tremendous satisfaction in putting on running events,” he said. “Especially the Great 38, as it combines philanthropy, volunteerism, health and wellness and the university’s academic mission by raising money for a student scholarship.”
So far, 780 people have registered to run this year, but King says the goal is 850, which would be the most runners in the race’s four-year history. King says he wants the race to become the biggest in the state and stressed that it needs more support.
King said that for the race to continue to grow and be able to give more money to the scholarship, it needs more runners, more sponsors and more volunteers.
“One problem for us, unfortunately, is the lack of sponsorship support,” King said. “We are grateful for our sponsors, but we just don’t have enough of them to cover our costs. That is why we can’t donate more. Hopefully, if more people run the race, the next year it will be easier to get more sponsors.”
Runners and volunteers can still register for this weekend’s events, which feature 3-mile, 8-mile and half-marathon races over the course of the weekend.
