Teen with spina bifida drops crutches, walks to receive diploma

LANCASTER, New York (CNN) -Tyler Ball, a high school senior who hadn’t walked more than eight steps without crutches his entire life, just graduated, and what he did at commencement had his family in tears.

“He told us beforehand, he goes, ‘You know, if I get up there and I get halfway and I fall, I’ll get back up,” Tyler’s father Kevin said.

With tears in his eyes, and a heart filled with joy, the proud father recalls what it was like seeing his son walk across the stage to receive his high school diploma.

“It’s emotional,” Kevin said. “It’s cool to see.”

Tyler is a busy teen. He’s a manager for the school’s baseball team and enjoys playing hockey, all while living with spina bifida.

“I can’t feel my feet and I can’t move my toes, but I can move pretty much everything else,” Tyler explains.

He typically walks with crutches or uses a wheelchair to get around, but he says he wanted to do something a little different for his commencement ceremony.

As his name was called to receive his diploma, Tyler surprised the audience, dropping the crutches and walking across the stage without any help.

His inspirational walk received a standing ovation – a reaction Tyler, who had practiced walking for weeks, was not expecting.

“I mean, they said don’t clap or anything for people, so I was kind of maybe expecting a little bit, but I wasn’t expecting near the response I got,” he recalls.

For the young man who has lived through multiple surgeries and countless falls, each step taken at that ceremony symbolizes walking into a new chapter of his life.