#NoQuit: Nine months after hockey injury left him paralyzed, teen walks at graduation

MILTON, Mass. — After a devastating hockey injury left him paralyzed from the waist down, Milton Academy student Jake Thibeault had one goal.

“The first words out of my mouth were ‘I will walk at graduation!’” Thibeault wrote on Instagram.

Nine months later, that goal became a reality.

Thibeault shared a video to his Instagram page showing him rise from his wheelchair and walk to receive his diploma at Milton Academy’s graduation ceremony on Friday. The moment was met with a standing ovation from his classmates.

But Thibeault says he’s not done. The next step:

“I still have a long way to go to lose these braces and walker,” he wrote, but celebrated his accomplishment and thanked his friends and supporters at the school.

The video received thousands of likes and dozens of comments, including from actor Mark Wahlberg, who called Thibeault his hero.

Thibeault was injured when he crashed into the boards and his helmet split during a hockey game in September. He was diagnosed with a serious spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Just weeks later, Thibeault’s father said his son had made more progress than was expected at that point in his recovery.

“He’s going to walk again. Anybody who says otherwise – which that hasn’t happened but – he’s going to tell you that,” Mike Thibeault said. “And I can tell you, his rehab – this is probably the best way to put it: He was on a machine, felt a little nauseous, a little ill. They were ready to take him off, call it quits. And Jake was like, ‘No, I still have an hour and a half of rehab to do. And I’m fine. I’m going to do it.’”

A GoFundMe page for the teen has raised more than $500,000.

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