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Louisiana teen Will Whitten suffered partial paralysis after a January 2025 car accident left him with a broken back

At the hospital, he told Dr. Autumn Atkinson that he wanted to walk again before his high school graduation in May

Dr. Atkinson and Whitten's care team helped organize a mock graduation ceremony for him so he could practice walking before the official ceremony, which he attended with only an arm crutch on May 17

Will Whitten was on an ordinary hunting trip with his friends in January when he decided to head home, leaving the group behind. The 18-year-old student had work in the morning, so he got into his truck in the early hours of Jan. 26 — and dozed off behind the wheel.

"I was very, very exhaustedly tired," Whitten tells PEOPLE, recalling that he woke u

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