Liberty graduate overcomes adversity to see dream realized

By Christa Desrets

Published: May 10, 2008

Gary Ricketts was a semester away from graduating from Liberty University in 1999 when his life changed forever.

He had traveled with friends to Atlanta, he said, and on the way back fell asleep in the passenger seat.

When he woke up, the car had flipped over an embankment, and his friends were trying to pull him from his seat.

“Somehow, I knew for them not to,” he said. “It’s almost like I was in a trance-like state, kind of going in and out of consciousness, and I could feel from my chest down was burning, almost like my body was on fire.”

He had been paralyzed from the chest down, and began a long process of

recuperation.

Ricketts was out of school for more than five years, and thought he might never go back.

“I didn’t think there was a way,” he said.

But in 2005, he enrolled again at Liberty, through the school’s Distance Learning Program, and used a voice-activated computer to take one class at a time.

Friends helped him along the way by typing notes that he would dictate to them.

“That has definitely helped out a lot,” he said. “I’m so appreciative.”

Saturday, at age 31, he became the first in his Jamaican family to graduate from college, with a degree in business.

He’s still unsure how he wants to use it, he said, but is considering becoming a motivational speaker.

No matter what, he said, the degree hanging on his wall will “speak volumes.”

“It’s so representative of what one has accomplished,” he said.