Through baseball and love, Wilson man's heart in the right place

But his journey, like that of his beloved Boston Red Sox, wasn’t always easy.

Over the course of his 24 years, Worrell has seen his favorite team emerge from a storied curse to claim World Series titles. Worrell, born with one strike against him – a congenital heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot – has formed lasting memories in the team’s home park, one of Major League Baseball’s enduring shrines.

Worrell threw out the first pitch at a game in 2013 thanks in part to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Two months ago, he proposed to his now-fiancé, Erica, at a game.

It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball, just like it’s hard not to appreciate Worrell’s story of outlasting early predictions that he was unlikely to live.

“Basically, I wasn’t supposed to live past three months old,” Worrell said. “The doctors basically handed me to my parents and were like ‘take him home and enjoy him while you can.’”

At 1, he suffered heart failure. The doctor told his parents there were no guarantees for what happened after that.

Other feedback included that it wasn’t likely he’d live past his early 20s. Another open-heart surgery was needed when he was 11.

Worrell also had growth hormone deficiency, forcing him to take growth hormone injections to grow at a normal rate. Mistreatment from other kids and isolation were two of the hardships of growing up, although seemingly small potatoes compared to the uncertainty of what came next.

“I’ve always been told I had a bigger purpose in life,” he said. “I always clung to that in the hard times.”

Other trials have come. His dad, Jason, passed away unexpectedly in November 2020.

“Before he passed, he was everything that a man would look up to,” Worrell said.

Worrell is a Southern Nash High School graduate and grew up in Bailey, enjoying many of the things young boys do – hunting, fishing, riding four-wheelers and playing baseball. Farmland surrounded his childhood home in a classic rural setting seen throughout eastern North Carolina.

He now lives in Wilson and works in software sales. Worrell and Erica have a wedding planned for June 2022.

The page’s objective is simple - helping young people with disabilities and conditions, those who face plights similar to what he had as a youngster.

“I want to be an advocate,” he said. “I want to pay it forward. I want to be that person I needed growing up.”

Worrell wants to ask people to embrace their differences and lean into their struggles, seeing the beauty in the beast.

“I’m here to tell you that being different is good,” Worrell said. “Everybody doesn’t have to abide by the same cookie-cutter lifestyle, cookie-cutter personality. Go be you. Go find your purpose.”

A slew of cherished memories came from the 2013 trip as he recalled meeting favorite player Dustin Pedroia (“we’re both little guys”), getting to go on the field and even signing an autograph. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series that season. Worrell got to see it in his youth in the midst of a golden age in Red Sox history.

When he proposed to Erica at Fenway earlier this year, it was another watershed moment at one of the more revered buildings in sports.

Not bad for a guy who wasn’t supposed to be here.