Paralyzed by a hockey injury, Jack Jablonski finds purpose, and sees movement, off the ice

Relying on his mind to prevail over limbs that had become paralyzed after he was driven face-first into the boards during a Minnesota high school hockey game nearly six years ago, Jack Jablonski stared at his feet one recent night and willed them to move.

He had come to believe in a connection between mind and body since his C5 and C6 vertebrae were broken and his spinal cord was severed by that unexpected hit, which he considers a hockey play but made with an elbow and stick that were too high. His doctors told him he'd probably never bend his right arm. Determined to prove them wrong, he bent it a week later.

Since the accident in his sophomore year, on Dec. 30, 2011, physical therapy has allowed