Sarah Lynn Hyatt, escorted by Seth Grant, STANDS as she receives her crown and bouquet as homecoming queen at her school, West Henderson High School. (Photo by Patrick Sullivan/Times-News) "A queen stands tall!"

That was the head on an article in the Hendersonville, N.C., newspaper when Sarah Lynn Hyatt was crowned Homecoming Queen at her West Henderson High School on October 20.

Of course, most queens stand tall, but it is a miracle that this queen could stand at all.

When Sarah sustained multiple injuries in an accident on June 23, doctors at the Shepeard Spinal Center in Atlanta told her family that she probably had a severed spinal cord, was paralyzed from the waist down, and probably would not stand or walk again.

Almost four months later, Sarah and her determination have proved them wrong. She worked hard in therapy sessions and learned to take care of herself, dressing herself, learning to get out of bed and into her wheelchair, and do other things that she was not expected to do.

She began to have some feeling in her leg and foot. She wears braces on her legs and uses a walker. In a significant therapy session, she stood up, using the bars, and then took a few steps while using a walker.

At that point she announced to family and friends that she was NOT going to wear her senior prom dress while sitting in a wheelchair, and that she IS going to walk across the stage to receive her high school diploma in May.

"The crowd went wild" when she stood with the help of her braces and walker to receive her crown during the halftime of the West and East Henderson high schools' football game.

She began this year's school year with her classmates, using her wheelchair, and continues in therapy. Her grandmother, Rosalyn Adams of Washington-Wilkes, says she makes progress every day. Maybe the next picture we have will be of her receiving her high school diploma.

Sarah is the daughter of Jim and Charlotte Adams Hyatt.