Advertisement Paralyzed 5-year-old boy improving, given tour of Memorial Stadium Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Qmarion Jones is a 5-year-old boy who was accidentally shot in the neck by his older brother in May. He lay in critical condition for weeks; his family calls it a miracle that he survived.Qmarion is paralyzed from the waist down, yet he recently ran circles around Husker baseball players in his motorized wheelchair. The players stopped by Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital to play hoops with him."To have that much determination, you know, it truly changes your life," Husker pitcher Colton Howell said.A big part of "Q's" throat is gone, so he can't speak or eat through his mouth, but he can communicate with hand and face gestures or using a special iPad chat communicator.Janaire Smith, his uncle, described the progress like this: "It's a tragedy that actually became a miracle."On May 7, his 8-year-old other brother accidentally shot him in their Council Bluffs home. His mother and grandmother were arrested for child neglect."They really weren't expecting him to make it," Smith said. "They weren't expecting him to actually live."Qmarion's uncle and aunt are now his legal guardians. Their focus is to move forward and keep their faith in the future."I hope and pray that he'll regain his vocal ability," Smith said. "And I hope someday that he will be able to walk again. That is my hope and my desire and my prayer."Qmarion still has a long way to go; he's on a ventilator at night and has to have extensive, constant medical care. But he has already made remarkable gains from when he arrived at Madonna months ago."He hadn't been able to get up out of bed much," Dr. Amy Holst said. "He wasn't really able to communicate."Qmarion is now learning sign language and how to read. He's strengthening his arms so he can use a manual wheelchair, even learning how to pop wheelies to go up and down curbs. "He's very intelligent," speech pathologist Sarah Messerli said."(He's) just a sponge," Holst said. "Anything you teach him or learn, click, he gets it like that."He especially enjoys anything electronic; he figured out how to program a made-up word on his iPad just by watching staff."He typed it in himself so it's kind of gobbledygook," Messerli said. "But it's his own button and he thinks it's hilarious.""It's just inspirational every day," Holst said.UNL baseball players gave him a special tour of Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, marking turf angels and allowing him to grab a microphone and interview head football coach Mike Riley.Qmarion's older brother also lives with his aunt and uncle. The family said the boy is doing fine as he deals with the accident.