College Student Graduates Four Years After Being Paralyzed

A North Carolina man graduates from college four years after being paralyzed from the neck down in a shooting. In 2018, Howard Boone Jr’s life was changed forever when he was shot while celebrating being accepted into the Omega Psi Phi fraternity at Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The college junior and Army Reserve soldier nearly died on the scene of the incident and again while in surgery. The bullet severed his spine, paralyzing him from the neck down, and going forward he would require round-the-clock care.

Boone spent months at a rehab clinic in Atlanta before returning to Raleigh and to his studies. Every part of his life became more difficult. He would always be confined to a wheelchair and needed a ventilator to breathe, but his father had always taught him to finish what he started, so he learned how to work with his disabilities and persevered.

Now, four years after the tragic accident that altered his life forever, Boone’s hard work is paying off as he receives his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the HBCU. With his college degree under his belt, Boone says his next goal is to be able to get off his ventilator for good.

Source: Black Enterprise


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