[A young man with glasses, Austin, sits in a wheelchair, looking off to the side.]
[Text appears: Austin Schemrich, Premier Health Patient]
Austin Schemrich, Patient: My accident happened April 26th of 2023. For me, I don't remember any of it.
[A montage shows a wrecked car with a smashed front end, then Austin lying unconscious in a hospital bed with a neck brace and breathing tube.]
[A woman, Cindy, speaks.]
[Text appears: Cindy Schemrich, Austin's Grandmother.]
Cindy Schemrich, Austin's Grandmother: We knew there was an accident, and all that you could think of is, is he gonna make it?
[Austin sits in his wheelchair outside, a large tree behind him. A man, John, speaks.]
[Text appears: John Schemrich, Austin's Father]
John Schemrich, Austin's Father: His injury with the, with the spine, the doctor's like, "I have to go in there and grind his spine down to get it back where it's supposed to be."
[Photos show Austin in a hospital bed with various breathing masks and tubes, holding a teddy bear in one.]
I mean, right out of the gate it was like, the percentage of him surviving the surgery was at like 50.
[A woman with pink-streaked blonde hair, Andrea, speaks.]
[Text appears: Andrea Green, Austin's Mother.]
Andrea Green, Austin's Mother: I think I realized his strength when we were trying to decide if he would be able to
breathe on his own and he wanted those tubes out of his throat and nose, and he wanted food, and he wanted ice cream.
[More photos show Austin in the hospital, connected to machines.]
Austin Schemrich, Patient: Like, I just had actually no hope that I would even walk for my graduation.
[In a school gymnasium, rows of empty chairs face a stage. A montage shows Austin in his wheelchair, getting a graduation cap placed on his head and wearing a gown.]
Cindy Schemrich, Austin's Grandmother: You worked hard for that, didn't you, buddy? Yes, you did, didn't you? It's tough, the, the unknown. But I'm so proud of how far Austin has came. The determination he has to get better says a lot for his character, I believe.
[From behind, Austin wheels himself into the empty gymnasium.]
Austin Schemrich, Patient: If you, if you quit, you, you don't get better.
[Austin sits in a physical therapy room.]
So I was determined to get better.
[A man helps Austin with a harness.]
[A man in a blue Premier Health jacket, Chris, speaks to Austin.]
Chris Colatruglio, Physical Therapist: You ready to walk again?
So Premier Health offers a wide range of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
[Chris speaks in a room with stained-glass windows.]
[Text appears: Chris Colatruglio, DPT, PT, Physical Therapist, Premier Health.]
We try to treat everyone as an individual, even though something may be similar, like we are there to help each person get better at what they wanna get better at.
Austin Schemrich, Patient: Basically, I started calling around, asking about exoskeletons and like learning about 'em, and then that led to going into therapy for it. And then I started working on it.
[Austin sits at a desk, looking at a laptop.]
Chris Colatruglio, Physical Therapist: His goal from the start was, "I know you have an exoskeleton. Can I use it? How can I get up into it?"
[A black exoskeleton suit sits on a small stool in a therapy room.]
He wanted to walk across the stage at graduation, so this was his goal for the last three years.
[Chris approaches Austin, who is in his wheelchair, near the exoskeleton.]
Austin Schemrich, Patient: Premier Health was very supportive, especially giving me the chance to prove people wrong about the exoskeleton being only for certain levels of injury.
[Chris helps Austin transfer from his wheelchair into the exoskeleton. Chris kneels to strap Austin's feet into the exoskeleton's boots.]
Chris Colatruglio, Physical Therapist: There was some things that we had to make sure and be realistic about, so it was let's just see how this happens, and see can you tolerate standing with this device. And after that, can you tolerate 10 steps? That's what my first goal was. Can we take 10 steps? Three, two, one.
[Assisted by two men, Austin stands up in the exoskeleton. Using a walker, Austin takes steps forward in the exoskeleton, guided by Chris.]
Austin Schemrich, Patient: My very first time I went 260-something steps. My PR is 777, which is the most
steps they had anyone in an exoskeleton actually do.
Chris Colatruglio, Physical Therapist: I have never worked with a client like Austin before. I've had multiple patients in an exoskeleton before, but never someone who want, wanted to achieve this kind of goal on a public level. You know, most of the time it's just, "I wanna be able to walk," and maybe a family member takes a video while they're in the gym doing it, but never like, "Hey, I wanna go in front of hundreds to thousands of people and be able to show what I can do."
[At the graduation ceremony, a mascot stands near the stage. A close-up shows a hand on the joystick of a powered wheelchair.]
Austin Schemrich, Patient: Like the day of, we did a practice run before everyone got there.
[Austin, in his cap and gown, sits among his classmates.]
Like even with that, everything didn't go perfectly at all.
[The gymnasium is now filled with a large crowd in the bleachers. A person holds up a phone to record.]
Chris Colatruglio, Physical Therapist: Once he got in with the rest of his classmates into the gym, um, and they got introduced as a class, he came off into the side and by the locker rooms, getting everything ready and set, making sure everything was out of the way and that we could have a smooth path into the gym. Then it kind of really sank in like, "Oh, we're doing this. Truly no turning back. Like, let's get in this, let's stand up, and let's make our entrance."
[In a hallway, Chris and another man help Austin get into the exoskeleton.]
[Using the walker, Austin walks past the school band towards his seat.]
Announcer: Thank you so much. Class of 2026 has demonstrated exceptional gratitude.
Chris Colatruglio, Physical Therapist: So at that point it was, "Okay, let's stand up and let's just make sure w- everything that we had worked on for the last few months was put into play."
[Chris helps Austin get situated in his seat with the exoskeleton on.]
By the time we got up and his name got called, like you can just feel the intensity of the moment.
Announcer: Austin Tyler Shepherd.
[An announcer calls Austin's name. The crowd and faculty stand and applaud.]
[Students cheering.]
[Austin walks with the walker across the floor toward the stage.]
Austin Schemrich, Patient: When everyone started like standing up, that's what really got me going.
[A man hands Austin his diploma. He smiles as he walks.]
Chris Colatruglio, Physical Therapist: This is what we practiced for, is this moment exactly.
[A montage shows Austin posing for photos with his diploma and celebrating with family as confetti falls.]
[The Premier Health logo appears.]
