Paralyzed Student Walks Across Graduation Stage After Tragic Accident

A Kansas student walked across the stage at her high school graduation after being paralyzed from the waist down in a gymnastics accident.

Anna Sarol, 18, received enthusiastic applause from students, friends and family present at the graduation ceremony of Olathe Northwest High School. Anna’s siblings told Good Morning America about their sister’s brave walk using leg braces and a walker.

“Everybody, almost the whole stadium, was crying,” Anna Sarol’s mother, Louicee Sarol, told ABC. “I looked back and parents are in tears of joy, all for Anna.”

Anna told ABC that she was determined to walk across the graduation stage from the moment she found out she was paralyzed.

“I made a promise to myself that I’ll be determined to walk the grad stage, if I could walk at that point,” she said, opening up to ABC about how she physically trained to make the walk.

“I was very nervous, very anxious about the whole situation because my classmates haven’t seen me walk since freshman year,” she said. “I could hear the whole crowd, and I looked up and I saw everybody on their feet, including everyone in the stadium and everyone in my class. They all knew how hard I had been working towards this for the past couple of years.”

Anna concluded the interview stating that she hopes to become a motivational speaker in the future. She is also hoping to save enough money to purchase medical equipment that would allow her to once again walk on her own.

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