As he continues his recovery in good spirits, Jake Wilcox, who’s in Grade 10 at David Thompson Secondary School, is now riding his bike and able to play non-contact sports after his August 2013 dirt biking accident.

Jake missed his first semester of Grade 9 while recovering at Alberta Children’s Hospital. But he began his homework before even returning back home, and managed to work hard enough to catch up and join his peers in Grade 10.

“He appreciates every minute of being alive now,” said his mom Jenn Shaw.

“It’s difficult for him to find something else to do, he loved dirt biking and hockey,” she said. “So he’s kind of procrastinating at that.”

But his keen interest in the outdoors has Jenn suspecting he’ll like hunting and camping.

The accident caused Jake injuries in both of his frontal lobes, and both of his orbital bones were broken, along with his eye sockets, both cheek bones, his nose, upper jaw, lower jaw, his right shoulder blade, left elbow, right hand, as well as two fractures in his pelvis, in both femurs, and shattering his right knee.