Almost two years after a Wisconsin teen suffered a debilitating traumatic brain injury, he marked an important milestone by standing up from his wheelchair and stepping across a finish line.

“I would say the last 20 to 30 yards was 100% him,” says Tyler Jedwabny of watching son Brett Jedwabny, 17, complete last month’s 1.7-mile Walk With the Children that coincides with the 22-mile pilgrimage Walk to Mary at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, the only approved Marian Apparition site in the U.S.

“He was pretty excited about it,” Tyler tells PEOPLE. “He knew what it meant, and he knew it was important.”

Faith has been an anchor for the Jedwabny family since July 9, 2024, when Brett was critically injured after a tire exploded while he was power-washing a cart at his family’s home in Appleton, Wisc.

The freak accident cracked the then-15-year-old’s eye socket and sent debris into his brain, which took out part of his right frontal lobe. His mother, Nicole Jedwabny, who found him outside, thought he was dead.

Even with immediate care by first responders and emergency surgery, it seemed unlikely that Brett would live another 24 hours.

But survive he did. Beyond the power of medicine, his family believes the prayers and rosary that were said by local students and at their parish, St. Pius X Catholic Church Mission, resulted in a miracle.

“That night changed the whole trajectory of everything,” says Tyler, a 45-year-old real estate broker and local school coach. “We woke up the next day and there’s no way it didn’t make a difference.”

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