Neil Doef walks one year after hockey hit injured his spine

It's been one year since Neil Doef was checked and fell into the boards, causing serious injury to his spine and ending a promising hockey career. 

Now, the resident of Smiths Falls, Ont., who was told he might never walk again, is working hard on his recovery. 

"I'm just kind of taking the approach that I kind of didn't really want to live like that," he said. "I wanted to walk again, for sure." 

For months, Doef's parents have been celebrating milestones most mothers and fathers only mark once: his first time in the pool, his first time standing up and, finally, first steps.

"It's every hockey parent's worst nightmare. It really is. You don't want your child to ever get injured playing the sport that they love so much," said his mother, Bobbi-Jean Doef.

But he's worked hard, she says "and he's accomplished things that they said he would never accomplish."

'Working hard'

Neil Doef is now walking with the help of a pole and a remote control that activates muscle sensors in his foot and calf. 

"When I'm walking, when I put pressure on the sensor it will send a signal to the brace around my calf and that brace will stimulate the muscles."

The 2014 accident fractured Doef's seventh cervical vertebrae, compressing his spinal cord. It took a bit of luck for Doef to make his recovery and a lot of hard work.

He's accomplished things that they said he would never accomplish.- Bobbi-Jean Doef, Neil's mother

"I think I was used to it, working hard to achieve whatever I wanted. And so I just kind of took that same mentality into rehab and approached it kind of the same way."

In fact, Doef's parents say he surpassed the expectations of many in the rehab program at the General campus of The Ottawa Hospital.

"He kind of lifted up a lot of people in physio to work hard," said Neil's father, Bruce Doef. "They kind of adopted his work ethic."

'I still love the game'

Neil Doef says his accident hasn't curtailed his passion for hockey. 

"I still love the game," he said. "I still enjoy watching hockey. I just, obviously, watch it a little differently now, I guess you could say hoping that nothing else happens that happened to me."

Every Friday, when the Smiths Falls Bears play their home games, Doef heads to the arena to cheer on his former teammates and even offer a bit of advice. 

Seeing him in the stands has been an inspiration to friends and supporters, but for his mother it will always be bittersweet.

"He shouldn't be there. He should be on the ice."