After shooting, Thanksgiving has special meaning for Upper Darby’s Anderson

UPPER DARBY — Desean Anderson is thankful for the chance to play one final high school football game Thursday morning.

He’s also thankful for the love and support of his family, teammates and coaches. Most of all, the Upper Darby senior is thankful to be alive.

The date was July 17, 2017. While walking the streets in North Philadelphia after a spending the day at a cookout with friends in the Germantown section of the city, Anderson was all alone at night, wanting to get home as quickly as possible.

Anderson had a weird feeling as he hopped off the bus and made the trek to his grandmother’s house. Something had told him to get off at the previous stop and take the long way home.

“There’s a back way I can take which will lead me right to her street. I didn’t get off at the back way stop and I should have,” he said. “I took the way I usually take and I got off and started walking up to my grandmom’s house. That’s when it all happened…”

Two men confronted Anderson, who a month prior had completed his freshman year at Samuel Fels High School. His dream was to play high school football, an opportunity he would earn his senior year at Upper Darby.

But football was the last thing on his mind on this night.

“I had put my phone in my pocket, which is what I do every time, just in case something happens. I know my surroundings,” he said. “As they were walking up, we switched sides. We turned positions. They stopped me. I looked back and they asked me if … I was in a gang from the area. I’m not in it. I said ‘No’ and they said ‘You’re lying.’ And then they said, ‘Give me everything in your pockets.’ I wasn’t going to do that.”

The perpetrators reached for their weapons and Anderson quickly made a run for it. He found a hiding spot between two parked vehicles.

“As I ran, I felt like I was shot,” he said. “I stumbled a bit … and as I’m running, I see they’re on the corner of my grandmom’s house. Mind you, my grandmom’s house is close, like right here, but I’m running the opposite way. They’re just there near my grandmom’s house.”

More shots were fired in Anderson’s direction. He couldn’t hide out any longer; he had to run fast.

“So, I was running on the opposite side, down the street, and they are standing there shooting at me,” he said. “I stumbled, just trying to duck my head. I think they hit me in my back first, and I didn’t feel the other shots because my adrenaline was up at this point. I didn’t realize I was shot more than that one time.

“As I’m running, my vision is blurred but I see them take off. They … are gone. I get around the corner to the next block. As I get there, I tried to knock up on somebody’s door. The people were scared to answer the door because they heard the shots, they didn’t know who I was.”

Anderson’s state of consciousness was waning. He had to remind himself to stay awake.

“About 10 seconds later, it clicked in my mind that I was not dead and I had to get up and get help,” he said.

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Upper Darby football player DeSean Anderson recovered from being shot multiple times two summers ago and returned to the gridiron, becoming one of the Royals’ best players in his senior year. (PETE BANNAN – MEDIANEWS GROUP)