Teen with Muscular Dystrophy walks across stage on graduation day
BEARDEN, Arkansas (KTVU) - A 19-year-old teen with Muscular Dystrophy made a huge accomplishment on his graduation day.
With the help of his physical therapist, Glen Douglas Haynes, got out of his wheelchair and walked across stage to get his diploma on May 20th. The crowd gave the teen a standing ovation as he made his way across stage.
A family friend, Cheryl Tucker Carlin, captured video of the inspirational moment. Haynes was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy seven years ago.
Tucker Carlin says he was a very active boy. He loved baseball football and horseback riding. She says, "Slowly but surely he was no longer able to do the things that he really loved, but his friends at school and in his small town have rallied around him and kept him going and even continue to have him as part of his high school baseball team as their manager."
Since then, he had surgery on his spine, and had the goal to walk to receive his diploma.
Tucker Carlin said "We had no idea the video would get all this attention." She's hoping someone will be able to help her friends. She says the family is in need of a wheelchair accessible van. "They currently drive a Durango and have an attachment on the back of it that was given to them that the wheel chair sits on but Doug has to be lifted in and out of the vehicle and then his parents have to load the wheelchair on the back."
Tucker Carlin set up a GoFundMe account for the Haynes family.