Paralyzed student walks again

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - It was just months ago when doctors told Purdue student David Rankine there was a possibility he may not walk again after a devastating car accident on I-65 during the summer.

Only NewsChannel 18 was there in Indianapolis as Rankine declared he would walk again, and now he's doing just that as he makes his return to West Lafayette.

"I know I always said I was going to be back, but it was more of a faking-it-until-I-was-making-it type of approach. So to be back is more of a surprise to me than it is to any one else. I'm just really proud to be here," commented Rankine.

Nearly four months later, he's back to campus and back to class.

"To go from where I was then to where I am now is a complete surprise. I couldn't believe it myself and it was just a day-in-day-out thing. You go to sleep with it, you wake up with it: with the hope that maybe today is a little bit better than the last," Rankine adds.

The aeronautical engineering student still dreams of walking on the moon and even Mars.

As he overcomes this tragedy, he finds himself one step closer to that dream.

"I want to make sure my life really counts for something because I'm on allotted time now. I realize that. I couldn't have gotten out of that accident any other kind of way. So now the big thing is just trying to prove that I have something to live for."