Georgia Tech student paralyzed in freak accident

ATLANTA — The parents of a Georgia Tech student paralyzed in a freak accident say they’re not giving up hope that he’ll walk again.

Grant Brunson, 18, was taking part in a team-building exercise with his fraternity in November when he fell off the shoulders of one of his brothers. He only fell about 5 feet, but he landed on his neck and broke a vertebrae, leaving him partially paralyzed.

"As a parent that's your worst nightmare to receive a call that something's happened to one of your children,” Lisa Brunson said. “(We were) just praying the whole way that everything would be OK.”

"I walked back into the room only to see Lisa on the phone in sheer panic,” Benny Brunson said.

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The Brunson’s say they are trying to stay strong for Grant, who is facing a long road to recovery.

He is now undergoing rigorous rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center in Buckhead,

He's making progress, but he and his parents are taking it one day, sometimes one hour, at a time.

This week, doctors are working to wean Grant off his ventilator. He'll then have a voice box to be able to talk.

His parents say it’s even harder around the holidays.

"The other night his sister made a video, she and her friends, of the Christmas lights in Athens because as a family you know every Christmas we would drive around and looks at lights. So this year we did it sitting in his room watching the video she and her friends had made for him,” Lisa Brunson said.

Grant's parents say he is extremely humble and not used to all this attention.

They know they have a long road ahead of them, but they say Grant is a fighter and they are confident he’ll walk again.

"We know we're at the beginning but where it ends up is going to be interesting and amazing when our day of graduation will come,” Benny Brunson said.

Cox Media Group