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Subscribe to RSSA California teen paralyzed nearly all his life lived up to his big promise this week and walked on stage to accept his high school diploma.
For the last three years, 17-year-old Patrick Ivison of San Diego has been going through intensive training for Tuesday’s ceremony, enduring six hours per day of physical therapy, according to KGTV in San Diego.
He vowed to everyone he knew that he was going to walk on stage during commencement.
"There's always that like, oh, I've got, you know, all of America expecting me to get through this," Ivison told KGTV.
The Scripps Ranch High School student suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident when he was only 14 months old.
When Ivison appeared on stage during commencement ceremonies, cheers and a standing ovation greeted him, encouraging him every step of the way. With the help of his trainer, a custom walker and his service dog, Ivison accepted his diploma. He graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average, according to KGTV.
"Graduation was fantastic and it was like I was in another time zone," Janice Kyler, Ivison's grandmother, told msnbc.com on Thursday. "He walked slow and it was the best walking he has ever done."
"We’re thrilled, proud and words can’t express the emotions. He's worked so hard to get to this point. He's a sweetheart,” Kyler said.
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She said the injury has done little to stop her spirited grandson.
Ivison was inspired to surf when he was 8 years old after seeing an adaptive surfer in the documentary "Step into Liquid," according to NBCSanDiego.com. By 13, he was competing in the U.S. Open of Surfing and Life Rolls On, a non-profit organization created to improve the lives of young people with spinal cord injuries, has been with all the way.
"We couldn’t be more proud of Patrick Ivison," said Kris Nakamura, executive director of Life Rolls On, in a statement. "Serving as an ambassador for Life Rolls On Foundation since he began surfing with us at 8-years-old, he has grown into an incredible young man who continues to be a shining example of how life truly rolls on after spinal cord injury. His first steps are just an example of even greater things to come."
These days, the teen is busy with college plans.
Ivison was unavailable for comment on Thursday because he was attending orientation at the University of Southern California, which he plans to attend in the fall to study film.
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Great story! Awesom grades too.
I can not imagine what it must have felt like for him to be able to walk with the rest of his class at graduation. What an incredible achievement and drive to achieve what he has. I just wish he would use that drive and intelligence to focus on something more important than film. With a 4.0 GPA he obviously has the brains to do so much more.
And who are YOU to tell him what HE should do? It's HIS future - let HIM walk the path that HE has chosen. He more than earned it. Even with that injury clamping down on his mind, he STILL did all of this.
We are America, the Wings of Freedom and Justice. We are a nation that believes in equality for all. Under one flag, one truth, we exist together as brothers to pursue happiness and success.
It's about time we allow our children to start being accountable for the paths they take, instead of buttering them up like we always do.
And to JS, I advise you to search your own soul. You may find you fear the cruelty and malice that lies within.
JS, you are an ignorant moron. Who the hell are you to tell people what they should and should not do? Everyone deserves the right to live their life they way THEY choose, not the way others expect them to.
Seriously, get a life!
I agree with JS in SD..... Film??? is that really a degree? Sounds more like a correspondent course. Stuff coming out of hollywood these days should be sent back with F- stamped on them.
wj-777816 - well yea most stuff from the film industry sucks. That's why we need more 4.0 students to go into the film industry ;)
We're told by many people to follow our dreams. That we should nuture them and do everything we can to make them a reality. We should never let anyone tell us that our dream is worthless or impossible.
Here's a kid who had at least two dreams. He walked for his diploma and is going to USC to study the film industry.
JS, who the hell are you to decide what someone else's dreams are to be and how they should fulfill them? If he fails at film, he fails. But at least he will do it on his own terms without some anonymous prick on the internet thinking he has no better drive than to do anything else.
What can I say He reminds me a Boy who was born with a muscular-skeletal disease. His focus and drive to overcome obstacles is just inspiring. Makes us who don't posses any "handicap" to stop whining and get after it. God bless their example.
JS in SD,
While one doesn't need to have a 4.0 GPA to be a filmmaker, you go awry by making the case there is no importance in filmmaking. Let's just say he uses his wonderful brain to make a film about his own struggle and inspires thousands more to follow his own values of courage, hard work, persistence, and determination.
I think the world would be a better place just doing that much. I'm not sure what has led you to think there is so little value in films.
Good for him! I love reading stories like this!
Great job! It's too bad that many high school's in the country would have denied him his well earned diploma due to excessive cheering though.
There is a real lesson this young man has provided us. It is simply this, instead of whining and carrying on this incredible young man proved beyond doubt the strength of his character and his drive to succeed WELL DONE SIR!!!!
Now if our leadership could do 1/10th as well as this man did we would not have a single problem in the world!
well said and you got that right !!!!!
WOW! How truly inspiring this young man is!
Way to go, Patrick!!! Wooooohooooo!!!
WOW, just WOW...
CONGRATULATIONS Patrick! And the best of everything. Do well in college, keep up those grades-- and you will go FAR in life.
Way to go Patrick! Congratulations. and to MSNBC- how about more stories like this!!!!!
Reading stories like this makes any day that much brighter. Keep rolling Patrick!!
Hopefully he keeps walking!
Medical science is progressing. All he needs is more open access to some of the treatments being experimented with today. If only our government put more money into research of things like stem cells.
FANTASTIC!!
I hope you do well in life.
With that kind of faith and determination, you will go far.
GOOD JOB Patrick!!
Wonderful!!! A bunch of "dignitaries" and cops from a certain South Carolina High School should read this. Especially the part about the cheering!
Graduates with a 4.0 and he wants to go and study film, instead of getting a real major like chemical engineering. Well, another "unemployed graduate" in the making. Congrats on the miraculous walk, I wish him the best possible outcome in all endeavors.
Eh, as strange as it sounds, going for a "real major" JUST because you think it will get you a "good" job, is kind of compromising. Nothing this article shares makes this kid seem like one to compromise. Anyone with a 4.0 that is going into a film program is pursuing their dream, something that seems very in character for the kid, based on the article.
Also, I've only known one chemical engineer in my life. He worked at a copy center. Since I met him, I've graduated high school, college, and have been at a rewarding job for years. The Chemical Engineer still works at a copy center. ;)
Sure things aren't sure things anymore, so do what you love.
And what, pray tell, would you have do with that degree? Make more nukes? Develop a biological virus meant for killing Muslims, in the name of Lord Romney's Korporate Kon Klan? He's pursuing the path he wants - let him do so. You stay out of his life, Baldman.
To Patrick - follow your heart, man, and stay godly. And if anyone says you're a weakling or a wuss, make 'em walk a whole mile with 250 lbs of pure concrete on their backs. Then they'll know to a degree what you've gone through to get where you are.
Gee, Baldman, when do we get to pick YOUR career for you?
CrimsonCujo, to be realistic. Chemical Engineers don't make nukes and viruses. They're more likely to make longer lasting hair dye, a new smudge free coating for glass doors, or aid in the development of a new flavor of Doritos ;)
Baldman, I have been in film and television for well over 50 years and believe me it is a REAL job! If he has a talent for it he can make a whole lot more money than most people with technical degrees make. It is sad people must denigrate others professions when they are obvious clueless about what it takes.
WSJ:
Unemployment rates & lowest 25th percent earning salary:
Chemical engineering: 3.8% & $60,000
Film: 7.3% & $30,000
Average undergraduate debt: $23,000
First give the kids the facts, then tell them to go do "what they love." What utter rubbish. You don't know what you "love" to do until you've done it long enough and gotten so good that you can teach it to someone else. Instead of telling kids to go "do what they love," we should be telling them to find the joy in what they HAVE to do. It's no wonder the entire country is such a disaster when we're preparing kids for a fairy-tale life, meanwhile we still keep sending them into the real world, and the adults who've been the by-products of such nonsense are still not wise enough to know better. What a shame.
Baldman: Why don't you mention another USC grad... George Lucas, net worth 3.2 billion (yeah, with a b) dollars? or Steven Spielberg (who applied to USC but ended up in CSU) net worth 3.0 billion? It is simpler than that...
What percentage of the those majoring in film will not become billionaires? Oh right, 99.99999%, same for most other majors really... I guess you missed the part about giving these kids a dose of reality rather than selling them fairy-tails. Sad.
Huge Congratulations to him! The grades, the inspiration and him being able to do it are amazing! I wish him the best of luck in everything he does in life!
Congratulations Patrick! Keep up the great job, I wish you the best!
Another feel good story about a spinal cord injury patient whether it be a child or soldier. Never do they write about the horrid nerve/neuropathic pain or that 60% of us are unable to have a bowel movement.
I'm sick of these stories that omit the tragedies that come with such injury. I finally am able to walk short distances but would gladly trade it for elimination of all the medical problems that accompany such injuries!
Don't you just love the posters who are criticizing his career choice? After all this he can do any DAMN thing he wants to do. Congratulations, young man.
Well Said Rick!
Congrats Patrick. I hope you remember to thank your heavenly father each and every day!
Congrats Patrick,
I know all to well what it felt like when you first stood up on your own while learning to walk those first steps. Its something you and I and many others hopefully will always remember. Never quit trying to get stronger and you will someday walk unassisted!
Please keep moving forward with your therapy and life and enjoy every single day. You are indeed an inspiration.
Hot Damn Good!
Way to go. Find a way to do it and then do it!
Tremendous inspiration for everybody.
Endured 6 hours of physical therapy a day and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. This kid is driven...he will be a great adult. Way to go Patrick!
Patrick Ivison: Do whatever makes you happy. Don't let anyone rain on your parade. If you want to be tiddly-wink champion of East LA, my best wishes to you. If you want to find the God Particle, then Higgs-Boson should be renamed and celebrated in your honor. If you want to major in film and/or movie making, do wonders with it. Be happy. You have worked wonders so far, I have no doubt that you will have many more. Best wishes to you. Your future is as bright as you are.
congratulations patrick! thanks for inspiring all of us to do our best and strive for our dreams! you and your family are amazing!!!
WOW! Congratulations Patrick! You and your family are truly inspirations to all of us that we can accomplish our dreams if we work hard. Enjoy.