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Dad learns to walk again for his daughters' sake after doctors said he was paralyzed

CHICAGO — Seven months after doctors told him he'd never be able to use his legs again, a man stood up and walked out of a rehabilitation center with his two young daughters at his side.

Cole Thomas, of Rochelle, Illinois, told "Today" that he shattered a vertebra in a September 2016 car crash.

“I realized I was hurt very badly,” the 34-year-old father of two said. “I looked down at my legs, and I couldn’t feel them, and I was like, ‘Oh, boy.'”

He later learned he shattered his L2 vertebra and had pieces of it embedded in his spinal cord. Doctors told him he was paralyzed from the waist down.

Determined to walk his young daughters down the aisle someday, Thomas posted a video to Facebook from his hospital bed.

"They told me I will never walk again. I'm bound and determined to prove them wrong," he said in the video.

He asked people for help connecting him to resources to help him learn how to walk. A relative reached out with information about the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago.

He started therapy just eight days after the accident.

After months of hard work and determination, Thomas walked out of the rehabilitation center on Friday with his daughters by his side.

"I know I was going to have to give rehab and therapy 110 percent, just like I did my job. I have to walk again no matter what," Thomas told "Today." "I have to be the best I could be."

Illinois man proves doctors wrong and walks after car crash le...

Congratulations Cole! Seven months ago, Cole Thomas was in a car crash that left him paralyzed. Doctors told him he would never walk again. Cole made an emotional plea on Facebook to find help and support. And today, Cole walked out of Shirley Ryan AbilityLab on his own. http://via.wgntv.com/KCEFv

Posted by WGN TV on Friday, April 21, 2017

In September, Cole Thomas was driving his co-workers to a job site when a deer darted in front of his truck. He swerved,...

Posted by Shirley Ryan AbilityLab on Tuesday, April 25, 2017