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Gunshot Victim, 11, Honored For Overcoming The Odds

Chicago Boy Honored For Miraculous Recovery

(CBS) -- Travonne Wilson was only 10 years old when he was accidentally shot in the neck and spinal cord inside his home on Thanksgiving of last year.

"I suffered a gunshot wound," he recalls "I passed out. I don't remember much."

The doctors weren't hopeful -- neither was he. But after several months in the hospital on a ventilator, he's walking and talking and healthy again.

"I feel so much better. I'm proud of myself," Travonne says.

He and his therapists worked every day to help him learn how to walk and talk again.

Travonne and Mom
Travonne Wilson, left, and his stepmother, Chiquita Fabarebo (Lisa Fielding)

His foster mother Chiquita Fabarebo says Travonne has come a long way in a very short time.

"He's a miracle. He's a very determined young man," she says.

Travonne, now 11, isn't sure what he wants to do when he grows up. He has some good advice for other kids who experience trauma: "Never give up. I thought it was impossible and look at me now. Just keep trying and you'll make it."

Travonne was one of six patients at Advocate Christ Medical Center and Children's Hospital to receive a special rehab award for overcoming the odds.

Cake For Rehab Patients
A cake commends a group of six physical-rehab patients. (Lisa Fielding)
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