A chronically ill student took her first steps in 10 years - to accept her awards for excellence at graduation. <br /><br />Melika Ghanaati, now 19, hasn't been able to walk unaided since 2013 due to four debilitating medical conditions. <br /><br />She was born with a severe form of scoliosis - a curved spine - as well as congenital myopathy, a disorder which has caused weakness in her muscles. <br /><br />Growing up, she either used a walker or a wheelchair - and has needed various surgeries to correct her curved spine. <br /><br />But after a year of intensive physiotherapy, Melika was able to walk up to her teacher unaided and receive her high school diploma, as well as two awards for excellence. <br /><br />Melika, who is now a student at York University, Canada, said: “This was such a special moment for me - my teachers and closest friends were worried about me, but I proved everyone wrong. <br /><br />“I wanted to surprise everyone with the walk, but most importantly, I believed I owed it to myself.”<br /><br />Melika was born with a number of conditions - including scoliosis, severe club feet, congenital myopathy and recurring kidney stones. <br /><br />But her scoliosis and club feet were the biggest hurdles preventing her from being able to walk. <br /><br />Up until the age of 13, Melika had a number of surgeries in an attempt to get the curve and club feet corrected. <br /><br />She even briefly died in ICU after surgery at the age of 12. <br /><br />She said: “Between the ages of 10 to 13 I had three spinal surgeries.<br /><br />“I even had a code blue - I died for a few seconds. <br /><br />“I lost a lot of blood flow and needed to have a blood transfusion."<br /><br />Doctors said after the final surgery in 2016 that she was “banned” from walking. <br /><br />But in June 2020, she “finally” got the “A-Okay” to start learning to walk unaided. <br /><br />It took Melika three years to get confident enough to visit a physiotherapist - and she realised her graduation would be the perfect time to take her first steps. <br /><br />She said: “At school I always had a walker, and after the surgeries I was banned from walking until I was fully healed. <br /><br />“I didn’t get the official A-Okay until June 2020 - but I was told my body knows better than me and to take a break if I need to stop. <br /><br />“By July 2022, I was doing physio - my last year of high school was very chaotic, I was trying to fit learning to walk in with four different extracurricular clubs. <br /><br />“I’d come home completely exhausted and would need to do my best at the exercise homework I was given."<br /><br />Melika describes her time at physio as “like a baby learning to walk” - her progress was gradual and she had to learn to take one step at a time. <br /><br />She was given exercises like holding on to the wall and putting one foot in front of the other. <br /><br />“Graduation was the goal I had to keep going,” she added.<br /><br />Wanting to keep it a surprise, she didn’t tell her friends or parents that she was practicing for graduation. <br /><br />But she had to let the graduation committee know - in case something went wrong.
