Paralyzed Southern University football player able to move hips again

ATLANTA — A major step has been taken for a Southern University football player who was paralyzed during a UGA game one year ago.

Devon Gales is currently getting therapy at the Shepherd Center, working hard Monday through Friday, two hours a day getting physical therapy.

“I'm able to feel a lot more in my foot and my legs,” Gales told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes.

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The once-Southern University wide-receiver was paralyzed in September after taking a hit during a football game against the University of Georgia.

He rarely watches the video of the incident, but Monday was the one year anniversary, so he did, and he told Fernandes he now realizes how far he's come.

“I feel a lot different than what it used to, and I can feel, like, basically everything inside,” Gales said.

He can sit up now on his own, and he can move his hips.

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“I said, ‘Oh it's coming,’ I said I can go ahead and do my ‘lil dance with my ‘lil hips now, I can shake it,” Gales said.

And he hasn't lost his sense of humor.

Not even after the Louisiana flooding last month, which ruined his parents' Baton Rouge home. The home was modified to become handicapped accessible for Gales.

Now, his father is putting that home back together while Gales works on his recovery in Atlanta.

“We went home last weekend and we just got new walls up, and I think my dad is going to be able to paint,” Gales said.

Gales has a message for all the Georgia people who have supported him on this journey:

“I want to tell them thank you for praying for me and just following my story, and I'm going to have a big story for you real soon, I'm just telling you I'm going to be standing up,” Gales told Fernandes.

Cox Media Group