“Happy heavenly birthday to my momma”: Ohio State’s Kaia Henderson pens emotional message for late mother’s special day

Ohio State junior Kaia Henderson shared birthday greetings for her late mother, Kristen Truitt, via Instagram story on Monday. With a collage of their photos together from her childhood, the guard wrote:

"Happy heavenly birthday to my beautiful momma. She was the kindest, most loving and compassionate human being you could ever meet. Miss you more than ever."

"My inspiration and strength to keep going every day," Henderson added.

Kaia Henderson's Instagram story (Credits: Instagram/@kaia.henderson)

Kaia Henderson lost her mother in 2014. In an interview with Syracuse.com in 2018, the guard's father, Aurelius, shared how her passing affected his daughter's life.

"She misses her dearly. I think to be able to do well in these things (basketball) now is giving her a little bit of peace,'' Aurelius said.

Henderson also commented on the loss and how she copes with it.

"I did find it difficult at first. I didn't like talking about it,'' Kaia said. "It just made me look at life and appreciate it, appreciate all the people around me. Never take anything for granted.''

Kaia Henderson has not seen much time on the court. She averaged 4.5 minutes as a sophomore and 3.4 minutes in her freshman season. Henderson has yet to play a game in this campaign. Last year, she averaged 0.8 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.4 assists.

Kaia Henderson's high school coach once praised the guard's passion

Kaia Henderson's basketball skills are in part thanks to her genes. Her father, Aurelius, is a former football and basketball player from Hamilton College. The guard has four older brothers, and the oldest twins, Jared and Jordan, were also excellent basketball players during their high school days.

Henderson developed her skills and aggressive style while playing against her brothers. Her father said that when she was in the third or fourth grade, she used to run onto the court during her brothers' games at halftime and would play with them and their teammates.

"It was natural, I guess,'' Kaia said. "I just wanted to play basketball.''

Her high school basketball coach, Mike Callan, also praised Henderson and added that she was already a standout player by fifth grade.

"You'd watch her play and you'd go, 'Oh my gosh.' She's a special talent,''' Callan said. "Nothing bothers her. She's got that heart. She's got that chip. She's got something that a lot of kids don't have, the drive.''

Henderson and the Buckeyes will play their next game against Northwestern on Sunday.