'The Wire' actor Tray Chaney's son 'graduates' from Shepherd Center

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Courtesy of Shepherd Center

ATLANTA - The 19-year-old son of The Wire actor Tray Chaney is heading home after being badly injured by an EF-2 tornado that destroyed the family’s home in the Locust Grove area of Henry County.

What we know:

Tray and Malachi Chaney were relaxing at home on May 29 when the tornado hit. Malachi was thrown 300 feet from his second-floor bedroom. He suffered multiple broken ribs, facial fractures, and deep cuts.

Man thrown from house now walks out of the hospital

Malachi Chaney, son of actor Tray Chaney of HBO’s "The Wire" fame, walked out of the Shepherd Center in Atlanta on Friday. This after intensive recover from multiple injuries after he was thrown nearly 300 feet from his henry county home by a tornado. Despite having extensive injuries, he completed the in-patient program in record time.

He was initially hospitalized in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. He was later moved to a regular room before being transferred to the Shepherd Center for rehabilitation.

The Shepherd Center is known for its work in helping people who have suffered spinal cord and brain injuries, traumatic injuries and amputations, strokes, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions.

Tray Chaney has documented everything that has happened to the family since the tornado on social media.

A radar-confirmed tornado tore through Henry County on May 29, 2025. (FOX 5)

What they're saying:

Malachi Chaney sat down for an interview with FOX 5's Eric Mock at Shepherd Center Friday.

"Me talking to you right now is really something. Based off of what they told me happened, I didn't think that would be possible. It's really insane just being on earth right now," Chaney said.

He says the experience of being tossed hundreds of feet by a tornado was so traumatic, it’s gone from his memory.

"I don't remember the day that it happened. I don't really remember that week and I don't remember the two weeks at Grady. I don't remember any of that at all," Chaney said.

But his mother Ayesha Chaney still remembers that gut punch when she pulled up to find her house in rubble and her son nowhere to be found.

"It was gone, like nothing there but the debris from the house. Like our roof was in our neighbor's yard, up the street, and they still hadn't found Malachi. So it was awful," she said.

It wasn’t until his last day at Grady that Malachi realized he had survived a tornado.

"I remember just kind of breaking down and just being like, 'it's got to be a bad dream. I got to be dreaming, it don't even feel real,'" he said.

When he came to Shepherd Center on June 11th he was recovering from broken ribs, facial fractures and most of all a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

He had to work to regain the ability to walk and talk normally.

The average length of stay for someone in Shepherd Center’s in-patient intensive rehab program is 50 days.

Malachi Chaney graduated in just 10.

"He's my superhero and that's it. He's extraordinary," Ayesha Chaney said.

"We didn't think our son was going to make it and to see him now, 22 days later, it's like, wow, a miracle," said his father Tray Chaney.

This natural disaster survivor turned recovery super speedster has no plans to slow down.

"My goal is to go back to the fall for my sophomore year at Savannah State," he said.

In a video posted today on Instagram, he and Malachi, who is wearing a neck brace, are seen walking outside the center. Tray asks his son if it feels good to be walking outside, and Malachi replies that he hasn’t been outside in a minute. He also mentions looking forward to getting Chick-fil-A.

A short time later, Malachi posted a video of his "graduation" ceremony from Shepherd on his own Instagram account.

During the video, he told the staff that he loved them and thanked them for helping him.

Shepherd Center confirmed to FOX 5 Atlanta that Malachi graduated their Inpatient Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation program on Friday. His primary therapy team played graduation music and presented him with a certificate of achievement and a Shepherd Center T-shirt, which must be earned.

While in the program at SHepherd, he participated in several treatments, including speech, occupational, physical, and recreational therapy. Next week, he will begin at Pathways, which is Shepherd Center's comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program for people recovering from a brain injury.

Tray Chaney has described the days since the tornado destroyed their home as "complete HELL." He says the process of dealing with the insurance company hasn’t been easy and that "being treated as if we didn’t almost die is insane." Chaney says he will continue to go to war for his family regardless of the circumstances.

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What's next:

He now begins the day program at Shepherd Center Pathways to continue his recovery.

Atlanta Henry County