The 6-year-old son of Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Cooney had quite a surprise for his dad when he returned from deployment. Defying doctors' prognoses, young Michael Cooney - who has cerebral palsy - learned to walk while his father was overseas.
The emotional event at a North Carolina gymnasium at Camp Lejeune was captured on video, and now that video has gone viral. Melissa Cooney, mom of Michael and wife to Jeremy, posted the clip on WelcomeHomeBlog.com with the following message:
“When my husband left on his deployment, our 6-year-old son could not walk on his own. He has cerebral palsy. Doctors originally said that he would never walk or do much of anything. While daddy was away, he learned to walk. For his homecoming, we set it up for Michael to walk to his daddy for the first time ever! We kept the fact that he could walk a secret the whole time his dad was gone!”
The Cooneys are parents to six children, according to North Carolina television station WAAY-TV.
The video has been watched more than 63,000 times at this writing. Take a look for yourself, but have a few tissues handy:
Marine Sees Son Walk For First Time
