Video: High school senior born with cerebral palsy walks for first time in public at graduation

Micah McDade put in long, painful hours to prepare a secret for his fellow high school graduates in Oklahoma last week.

They had never seen Micah, who was born with cerebral palsy, walk.

Local media reported that there wasn’t a dry eye in the place when Micah walked across the stage at Okmulgee High’s graduation ceremony.

Okmulgee News Network reports that Micah, who uses a wheelchair, spent hours secretly learning to take steps with the aid of a walker.

At graduation on May 20 he stood up from his wheelchair and, holding onto the walker, moved across the stage on the school’s football field.

“I wasn't nervous at all. I was all right,” Micah told KJRH-TV in Tulsa. “I just wanted to walk across the stage and get my diploma instead of being on stage in my chair.”

Micah decided two years ago that he wanted to walk across the stage at graduation. Very few people, not even some family members, saw the exhausting hours he spent in physical therapy practicing.

He just “kept on pushing myself,” he told KJRH. “I never give up. I've got the eye of the tiger.”

On the night of graduation his parents, Mark and Anisa McDade, cried as they watched him.

Most everyone else did, too.

Micah took his victory lap to cheers and applause - and a standing ovation - from the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I've been doing this a long time,” said the ceremony announcer. “But that is the best ever!”

The video of Micah’s walk has been viewed nearly 380,000 times on the Okmulgee News Network Facebook page, where this is a common sentiment among a thousand comments: “Tears won’t stop. This is beautiful.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 8:39 AM with the headline "Video: High school senior born with cerebral palsy walks for first time in public at graduation."