Seventeen-year-old Andrew Wykowski's entire life changed with one dive into the ocean while on vacation with his family in North Carolina last year.
The fun-loving athlete from Garden City, Long Island, jumped into the water and landed on his neck. A wave washed out, and his family found him laying in the water facedown. He wasn't moving.
"I said, 'Are you screwing around?'" his father Paul Wykowski recalled. "He goes, 'No. I can't feel anything.' My heart dropped."
Andrew had suffered a devastating injury to his spinal cord and was paralyzed.
Ten months later, he's not only walking, but he's also passing, catching and jumping, surprising even his own family. On Tuesday, Andrew and his parents were mulling plans to hit the pool as they walked through the city -- simple things they never thought possible to do together again.
The progress has come after months of hard work at Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Medical Center, where Andrew has been going to therapy three hours a days for the last several months.
"The stars really aligned for him, and we feel like it really was a miraculous team effort with his family and all of us here that got him up and walking," said Dr. Joe Taravella at Rusk Rehabilitation.
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A big part of Andrew's rehab is a high tech machine called the Locomat.
"It's really cool. The way it moves your legs it really helps you relearn how to walk," said Andrew.
The team at Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Medical Center calls Andrew an inspiration. Watching him move keeps the team motivated as Rusk celebrates its 65th anniversary this week.
"You can't give up. You have to keep going," Andrew said. "You have to think and keep going so you can continue to make progress."
With family and friends in his corner, Andrew is pleased with where he's at but this teen is not satisfied to stop here.
"When I hit 100 percent, I'll be really excited, but right now I'm very happy with how far I've come and I still want to make progress," said Andrew.
