Three wiggling toes have brought an incredible amount of hope to one paralyzed hockey player.
For the last seven years Jack Jablonski, 22, has dreamed of seeing his toes move.
The University of Southern California student was told that he would never walk again after he broke his neck during a hockey game when he was just 16.
But Jablonski has always said he would prove his doctors wrong, and this Fourth of July surprise has provided hope that all his hard work is paying off.
Paralyzed hockey player Jack Jablonski, 22, has wiggled three of his toes for the first time since his accident seven years ago
Jablonski was sitting on the deck of his parents’ Minneapolis home before dinner when he looked down at his toes.
He had taken his shoes off to help the swelling in his feet, and decided to try and give his toes a wiggle.
‘All of a sudden, on my command, I was able to get some tingles or some twitches in the right foot on the outside three toes,’ Jablosnki told the St Paul Pioneer Press.
Jablonski was so excited about what he had just seen, he called his parents to come out and watch.
Jablonski was sitting on the deck of his parents Minneapolis home before dinner when he looked down at his toes and, on command, got three of them to wiggle
His mother Lesie said it was a moment she would never forget.
‘To see the strain on his face was incredible, and to watch two or three of his toes move time after time after time was just beyond exciting,’ she said.
Jablonski posted a video of his moving toes on Twitter, where he tweets about hockey and his personal progress. It has been viewed more than 360,000 times.
Those three toes are especially significant to Jablonski because he was not only able to wiggle multiple appendages, but he was able to do it on command.
Back in December, Jablonski was overjoyed when he saw his right big toe twitch.
The University of Southern California student was told that he would never walk again after he broke his neck during a hockey game when he was just 16
But in December Jablosnki managed to make his right big toe switch just once and felt hope
The USC student was sure that he did it on his own and that it wasn’t a spasm, but he was unable to repeat the movement again.
Still, it was enough to keep his spirits up.
Jablonski was playing in a junior varsity hockey game in 2011 when he was checked head-first into boards on the side of the rink
‘Whether it’s progress or not, the most important thing is something’s connected,’ he told the Los Angeles Times in December.
‘And I was told from Day One it’s a complete sever.’
Jablonski was playing in a junior varsity hockey game in 2011 when he was checked head-first into boards on the side of the rink.
Doctors told him that he was paralyzed from the chest down and said he would probably never even be able to bend his right arm.
A week later, Jablonski proved them wrong. Now he can text with his right thumb.
In May Jablonski’s therapists felt him activate muscles in his glutes, hamstrings, abdominal, and hip flexors.
But it’s the toes that have felt like the biggest deal.
Doctors told him that he was paralyzed from the chest down and said he would probably never even be able to bend his right arm. A week later, he proved them wrong
In May Jablonski’s therapists felt him activate muscles in his glutes, hamstrings, abdominal, and hip flexors. But it’s the toes that have felt like the biggest deal
‘It just keeps me very optimistic that all my hard work is paying off,’ he said.
‘It’s huge,’ his mother added. ‘When he was injured, doctors believed his spinal cord was completely severed and that he wouldn’t be able to get any function below his level of injury.’
‘So the fact that he was able to move his toes on command, and repeat it, it means that something must still be connected. Even if it’s just a thread.’
‘Somehow, something is working.’
Jablonski, who also interns with the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, will continue to focus on his physical therapy and his foundation
Jablonski, who also interns with the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, will continue to focus on his physical therapy and the Jack Jablonski Bel13ve in Miracles Foundation.
The foundation, which takes part of its name from Jablonski’s jersey number, is currently raising funds to support a trial using epidural stimulation on paralysis.
Jablonski hopes his recent incredible progress will show others that ‘hard work can sometimes get back some of the function they were told they never would’.
‘It just makes me want to find that next miracle,’ he said, ‘Or medical breakthrough.’