Georgetown University linebacker Ty Williams walked at graduation, two and a half years after suffering a severe spinal cord injury during the first football game of the 2015 season.
In that opening game he was left lying on the field, unable to move, after going in for a tackle. He collided with the opposing team’s receiver and the force and angle of the impact broke five bones in his neck and back, The Hoya reported.
“It was all tingling,” Williams recalled, via The Washington Post. “I had no idea what position my legs were in.”
“[His injury] was a little eerie because the whole stadium went ‘Ooh.’ It was really hard to not understand what was going on,” defensive lineman Bryan Jefferson told The Hoya. “I started tearing up. I was worried because he wasn’t responding to anybody.”
He was never taken off the team roster after the injury. His number was never removed from team paperwork, and teammates wear his uniform number, “2,” on their helmets, The Washington Post reported.
Doctors never told Williams for sure if he would walk again.
“I don’t really think a single day goes by that he isn’t wondering,” said his girlfriend, Alexa Ritchie, via the Post. “The hardest thing for him is just not knowing.”
Williams gave the commencement speech for his former high school last year.
“Having a positive mindset can really change the way you see the world,” Williams told the class of 2017, via The Town Courier. “We ourselves have to be our number one motivator. In hard times, when our back is against the wall and we feel like there is no way out, we have to be the first ones to tell ourselves that it’ll be okay and that we must and will overcome.”
With the help of others, he walked for graduation and displayed the extent of his recovery, in an emotional moment for the school. It was the first time he walked since 2015, according to Sports Illustrated.