Sam Harrison

Every day, Sam Harrison practices holding his baby while his wife, Ashley, stands nearby. She's there just in case the weight of Benjamin is too much for Sam's limp arms to handle.

It was Feb. 16 when Harrison, 24, went night snowboarding at Brighton Ski Resort. It was dark and icy and he wasn't familiar with the run. He ended up on top of the terrain park and, with no time to react, he hit a jump at full speed. He flew through the air before landing on his head, splitting his fifth vertebrae in half. Within 24 hours he had two surgeries that saved his life, but he remains paralyzed from the sternum down.

Just one month before the accident, Harrison's wife gave birth to Benjamin three weeks early, on Jan. 15, 2008.

"He knew he needed to come a little bit sooner so I could get to know him," said Harrison, smiling. "We knew when he was born he was a special baby."

With little feeling or movement in his arms, Harrison cannot hold or even pick up his 5-month-old son. He'll never be able to be there for his son in the same ways as other dads, but he has already made a promise to be there in ways other dads ignore.

"He sits with Benjamin and talks and smiles and laughs," said Blair Hasler, who lives upstairs from Harrison. "He sits there as long as he can with him. Most dads don't do that."

It is the thought of Benjamin and fatherhood that keeps Sam motivated through difficult physical therapy sessions and daily challenges. And he's the reason Sam does an extra set of exercises every day.

He also uses him to challenge his own recovery. As Sam learns to reuse his body, Benjamin is learning to use his for the first time.

"I'm in a competition with Benjamin to see who can roll over first," he says. "He's beating me."

Together they will learn to roll over, sit up and eventually walk. His motto has become "Let's learn together." And he repeats it to Benjamin and Ashley. They'll learn to tie a necktie together. They'll learn to swing a baseball bat together. And learn to ride a bike together.

He's already come a long way in four months. After the accident he could not hold his own arm up without it falling back into his face. Now, he brushes his own teeth and shaves. But those small tasks took one month to relearn. Each time he finds the strength and the courage to accomplish one more thing it's a glimmer of hope toward his ultimate goal of walking.

"We can still have our dreams and goals, we just have to be patient with the time frame," Ashley said.

It only took a matter of seconds for Sam's life to change, but his happy-go-lucky spirit didn't.

"I've learned that you can't control what happens in life but you can control the way you respond to it," he said with a smile.

He finds anything he can do to help around the house. In the month he's been home from the hospital he's learned to use the computer, pecking away at the keyboard with his pinky's knuckle, to pay the bills online and respond to the family's e-mails.

The Pleasant Grove family has a handful of aides that come to help take Sam to physical therapy in Salt Lake City, to change medical dressings and to relieve Ashley of some of the work so she can spend time with Benjamin.

"Having something bad happen is not the end," he admits. "It's just an opportunity to move forward and be a stronger person."