Detroit high school senior Balaal Hollings was shot in the head on April 6 while attending a friend's birthday party. 18-year-old Hollings suffered brain damage, forgetting how to walk and talk.
On Tuesday, classmates saw Hollings for the first time walking across the stage at their graduation ceremony. The entire theatre roared with cheers and yells. Friends wiped away tears of joy as Hollings gave a speech nobody thought he would be able to give.
"Thank God it is so good to be alive," Balaal Hollings said. "I got shot in the head and I am fully rehabilitated. I forgot a lot of stuff. I forgot how to walk, I forgot how to talk but I didn't forget how to eat," the teen joked.
His family and classmates did not expect the teen would be able to walk out on stage. Doctors told Hollings he would not be able to go home until June 15, but the determined teen made it out of the hospital after only a two-week stay.
According to Hollings' statements to ABC, while attending his friend's birthday party in April another boy who was not invited decided to crash the event.
"After the party some East Side boy was shooting for no reason. A bullet hit the wall and then it hit me," Hollings told ABC.
The police have not found or identified the shooter. Hollings was senior class president and a promising football star. His injury cost him a scholarship to a college in Wisconsin.
Following his hospital stay, Hollings was sent to a rehab facility. His sister refused to allow any of his friends permission to visit the teen, worried it would interfere with his recovery. That didn't stop his friends from calling and texting as often as possible.
"My therapist said the best part of therapy is when my phone died," Hollings told ABC.
Having never lost his fighting spirit or his sense of humor Balaal Hollings is ready to start the next phase in his life. This fall he will start college and major in criminal justice.
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