Nearly four years after Fitchburg native Jake Thibeault broke two vertebrae while playing for a youth hockey club during a Labor Day tournament, he has a new trainer helping him on his journey to walk again.It’s someone he knows well. Ryan Dailida and Thibeault became friends at 8 years old. Now, he’s a physical therapy student and an intern at Journey Forward, the facility where Thibeault worked out this summer.Thibeault was left paralyzed from the waist down after he went headfirst into the boards following a collision on the ice in 2021.Dailida said Thibeault’s road to recovery is one of the things that inspired him to study physical therapy.”I think I treat Jake like the other patients. I mean, me and Jake have the occasional inside joke here or there. But Jake, whenever he comes in, wants to work 100%. So I’m going to give him my 100%,” Dailida said. “We really loved grinding for hockey together. We cherished the grind, embraced the grind, where that grind has shifted towards something else,” said Thibeault.He missed his final hockey season at Milton Academy, but he made great strides in his recovery and was able to walk across the stage to accept his high school diploma at graduation.Thibeault is now attending Babson College and frequently shares videos from his therapy sessions. He’ll go back to school in about two weeks for the new semester. With the help of Dailida and the other trainers, Jake says he’s made great progress this summer, including being able to lunge out of a squat and hold himself upright.Video below: Thibeault’s video boosted by Wahlberg
CANTON, Mass. —
Nearly four years after Fitchburg native Jake Thibeault broke two vertebrae while playing for a youth hockey club during a Labor Day tournament, he has a new trainer helping him on his journey to walk again.
It’s someone he knows well.
Ryan Dailida and Thibeault became friends at 8 years old. Now, he’s a physical therapy student and an intern at Journey Forward, the facility where Thibeault worked out this summer.
Thibeault was left paralyzed from the waist down after he went headfirst into the boards following a collision on the ice in 2021.
Dailida said Thibeault’s road to recovery is one of the things that inspired him to study physical therapy.
“I think I treat Jake like the other patients. I mean, me and Jake have the occasional inside joke here or there. But Jake, whenever he comes in, wants to work 100%. So I’m going to give him my 100%,” Dailida said.
“We really loved grinding for hockey together. We cherished the grind, embraced the grind, where that grind has shifted towards something else,” said Thibeault.
He missed his final hockey season at Milton Academy, but he made great strides in his recovery and was able to walk across the stage to accept his high school diploma at graduation.
Thibeault is now attending Babson College and frequently shares videos from his therapy sessions. He’ll go back to school in about two weeks for the new semester.
With the help of Dailida and the other trainers, Jake says he’s made great progress this summer, including being able to lunge out of a squat and hold himself upright.
Video below: Thibeault’s video boosted by Wahlberg