After an afternoon boating adventure turned into a devastating accident that changed Dan Cummings' life forever, the then-19-year-old has focused his life on helping others recover from injuries like his.
Cummings, now 33, was seriously injured when he dove off a boat into shallow water near Boston while spending time with friends, and didn't realize the depth of the water he'd jumped into.
"The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes underwater and couldn't move," he told TODAY.
He broke his neck and had to be put on a ventilator, and the accident ultimately left him a quadriplegic. Despite doctors' fears that he might never be able to feed himself again, he didn't let his condition hold him back.
"I used it as motivation," he said. "I am a tough kid from Boston. I was not going to accept that diagnosis."
First, he focused on learning how to walk again, finding an intense workout program in California.
"I took my first steps, and I walked out of there with a walker," Cummings said. For four years, he trained at the facility for three hours a day, three days a week.
Now, Cummings is focused on helping others the same way. He's opened Journey Forward, an organization that assists those with spinal cord injuries through rigorous exercise programs.
Learn more about helping Journey Forward
The facility, located in Canton, Massachusetts, attracts people from all over the country, including Alex Paul, who commutes two hours from Maine to attend the workshops after a bike accident left him paralyzed.
"Most of the time I am in my wheelchair until I get back in bed at night," he told TODAY, while completing a workout. "I am never in my chair when I am here."
The clients at Journey Forward are each working to achieve different physical goals — some need help feeding themselves while others are working on taking steps and standing.
Cummings has the same message for all of them: "Don't get discouraged," he said. "It took seven years before I took my first steps. It's a game of inches. It doesn't happen overnight."