A determined Massachusetts teen walked his high school graduation stage recently after sustaining a hockey injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Determined to walk again, he was able to receive his diploma standing on his own two feet. As Jake Thibeault rolled his wheelchair across the lawn as part of the graduating class at Milton Academy, nobody was quite sure if Jake would be able to keep a promise he’d made to himself nine months ago.

Jake Thibeault made headlines months ago when an injury during a hockey game left him with two broken vertebrae, partial paralysis, and a harrowing journey to try and heal. After his injury, the teen set a personal goal of walking his graduation stage to receive his diploma. Jake said he was informed that his chances of walking again were “low,” but he was determined to try. “I’ve been kind of an underdog in hockey and in multiple things where I’ve had to go that extra mile,” he told the Patriot Ledger. “I’ve had to work a little extra harder. Those years of having to fight hard for what I want has helped me to now face the biggest challenge yet and, hopefully, I have to ever face.”

According to Jake’s Father, Mike Thibeault, “We kind of realized that he wouldn’t necessarily be able to walk under his own power, but he was still determined, in his words, to be vertical.”

When his name was called, Jake started rolling his wheelchair across the stage. Then stopped and stood up. With leg braces and a walker, but completely on his own, Jake Thibeault took 30 steps and crossed his finish line.

“Just an overwhelming feeling of being proud for Jake, never more honored to be his father.”

Jake is headed to Babson College to study in the fall. His father says he is as determined as ever to walk even better and go even further.