About four years after being paralyzed due to a gunshot injury, Howard Boone Jr. is graduating from Saint Augustine’s University (SAU) an HBCU in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Boone‘s life was forever changed back in 2018 during St. Patrick’s Day weekend. While visiting Columbia, South Carolina, for a fraternity event, a partygoer fired off a few shots into a crowd. One of these bullets struck Boone, a college junior at the time, in the neck.

“I was in a sedated coma for almost two weeks before I actually woke up,” Boone said. “I coded twice, on the scene and again during surgery.”

Eventually, the former athlete and Army Reserve Soldier awoke to discover that the bullet had cut his spinal cord, resulting in him being paralyzed from the neck down.

“Going back to football and sports, I had never really experienced an injury, so in the back of my mind I’m like ‘Is this how it feels to tear an ACL and go through surgery?'” Boone said. “I’m like ‘Okay, well give me about two weeks and I’ll be back on my feet, we good.'”

However, he instead went to an Atlanta-based rehabilitation clinic, where reality truly began to set in.”

“I lost feeling… like, I lost everything. Everything I worked for just went away,” he recalled.

During a depressive moment, Boone wound up meeting another patient who was in a similar situation, which helped give him a different view of the matter.

“He rolled into the room, and I’m sitting just looking at the wall and just crying,” Boone said. “That moment gave me more perspective on me being in rehab, and it kind of opened my eyes a little bit.”

The interaction also inspired Boone to complete his criminal justice degree from SAU.

“If I start something, I’ve got to finish it,” Boone said. “When I got shot, I was going into my senior year. That’s two semesters, that’s too easy.”

Boone was able to use his phone‘s voice command feature to complete his assignments, eventually finishing up his necessary coursework and graduating with SAU’s Class of 2022.

“The whole time during the ceremony I’m in a daze, like I’m feeling like I’m going to black out because it’s unreal,” Boone said. “It’s my time for me to get to go up there.”

Now that he’s earned his Bachelor’s, Boone’s setting his sights on eventually getting off of his ventilator, which he has used to help him breathe since the injury.

Additionally, he notes that his priority in life is to “leave a legacy and tell stories when you’re older.”

Shoutout to Howard Boone Jr.!

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