YORKTOWN, VA (WTKR)- Makayla Stokes-Lawrence may have been expecting a proposal from her boyfriend, Adam Perdue, but it still took her breath away.
"My eyes were shut the entire time," Stokes-Lawrence smiled. "I cried the entire time. My eyes weren't even open and I normally can keep my composure and all my emotions in check."
This love story was written by two coaches. Adam is the head softball coach at Bruton High School, while Makayla is an assistant cheer coach at York High School, her alma mater. With the help of the Falcon and Jamestown cheer squads, Adam executed a sideline proposal during York's football game against the Eagles on October 30, giving Makayla's student-athletes a front-row seat.
"It made me tear up for joy," recalled senior cheerleader Madison Farris. "She's finally getting married!"
"It was like we were there from the beginning until now," fellow senior London Turner added. "It's just crazy seeing it all come together. It was exciting to be there for that moment."
"I couldn't believe that I was actually going to get to ask her to marry me," Adam said. "We have been through more obstacles than most people have."
Those obstacles stretch far beyond the athletic realm and were more challenging that any cheer routine or maneuver. Makayla was born with a genetic heart condition that caused deformation of the right side of her heart. She discovered the ailment when she was 16-years old during her cheerleading days at York.
"Because I had been so active as a kid, it sort of progressed it to continue to get worse and worse quickly," she said. "We went the transplant route."
Makayla would have to undergo an operation to receive a heart transplant, which she did on New Year's Eve of 2019. But her body rejected the organ, requiring her to have a second transplant, a procedure that took place in July of 2021. A 34-day wait for a new heart preceded her second surgery.
"My body just didn't take the organ, which happens in a lot of transplants to begin with," Makayla explained. "The second one, though, I had a bad bout with COVID early on in COVID and it never truly recovered from that."
That would lead to a third heart transplant, which happened last October. It sidelined the assistant coach for much of the season as her cheerleaders pressed on with one of their leaders in the front of their minds.
"It was challenging," remembered Turner. "You could tell it had a very big take on the team. It took a hard toll on everyone, but it was also a big motivator for us to just continue to push throughout the season."
"It was very concerning," Farris added. "It hurts a little bit because I want to know what's going on, but I can't really know until I get information from her parents."
But the third transplant included a new factor- Adam. He provided a support system for Makayla to lean on and stepped in to help, which included recording every single cheer competition so she wouldn't miss a second of the action. He was a man who stepped up to show her she could count on him.
"For me it was a lot of relying on my faith and taking it one day at a time," she recalled. "I didn't want to bring somebody into that."
"She told me her story, literally on our first date," Adam noted. "I looked her dead in the eyes and I said 'OK, let's do this.'"
It was early in their story where Adam would exhibit his dedication. After meeting online in July of 2023, Makayla found herself in the hospital after some irregular tests, but that wouldn't stop him from seeing her.
"She kept complaining one day that she was cold and hungry," Adam remembered. "I finally got her to agree and I went in, took her blankets, clothes and Chick-Fil-A. From there on, it was happily ever after."
That came full circle the night before this Halloween, as Adam asked Makayla for forever in front of those who mean the most.
"Just being there for the kids is what we've learned from our past experiences and what we can be now," Makayla pointed out. "I think that's why we're coaches and it's why that proposal was just so perfect in every aspect."
"I don't think you could write a better story," added Adam. "We literally have relied on each other from day one."
Adam and Makayla said they're looking at New Years Eve of 2026 as a possible wedding date.
