Yonnet, a French citizen who graduated last week from medical school at the U., was paralyzed from the waist down in March after a devastating fall while competing in the USA Snowboarding regional championships at Snowbird.

At first, Yonnet said he wanted to die. Then he found strength he didn't know he had. Most patients with spinal cord injuries return to work a year later. He returned to medical school just three weeks after being released from the hospital, surprising everyone.

Yonnet said it was the love of devoted friends and generous donations from the community that buoyed him. "I went from being suicidal after the accident to being happy to live again because I realized people loved me."

He began a month-long rotation in physical medicine and rehabilitation on his path to becoming a neurologist. It was a strange twist of fate: treating patients in wheelchairs while still adjusting to life in one himself. He soon found he connected with the rehabilitation patients like no one else could.

"They really trusted me more than they trusted anyone else on the team," he said.

Yonnet successfully convinced one of his patients to decrease the amount of pain medication she was taking by explaining that he was able to cope with less. "With other doctors they say, 'You have no idea what kind of pain I have.' They can't say that to me."

A spark ignited. Yonnet decided to change his specialty to physical medicine and rehabilitation. Medicine went from being a career choice to a life calling, which he detailed in his residency application to the U.

"I never told them that life in a wheelchair would be easy, but I showed them that it was possible to live it fully despite the seemingly insurmountable hardships," Yonnet wrote. "I spoke with patients in an honest, straightforward way about the challenges ahead. I told them about the hope and about the despair. . . . Patients appreciated me because, having lived through my own tragedy, I truly understood their concerns."

Yonnet turned his losses into fuel, and recently learned he's been accepted for his preliminary year of residency in internal medicine at the U.

But it hasn't been easy.

Right after he got out of the hospital, he stayed with a friend for three weeks while searching for an apartment that had wheelchair ramps, lowered counter tops and cabinets that were within his reach. Then, he moved in and began the difficult task of getting around on his own.

"If I slipped on the tile, either I slept there or I found a way back to my wheelchair," he said. "It was sink or swim. The next time I fell, I got better and better at dealing with the problems that arose. Being alone and not having anyone to care for me - that was a challenge."

Next, Yonnet tackled the notoriously taxing 80-hour workweeks that medical students have to contend with. Despite his physical and psychological pain (even getting in and out of a car had become a lengthy ordeal), he met his responsibilities and treated patients as faithfully as he'd done before his accident, but with a new understanding of what it means to be a patient.

Still, the relentless schedule took its toll.

"I felt tired," he said. "I felt sick. No matter what time I got home even if it was in the middle of the afternoon that's when I went to bed. I was exhausted. If people live with their family, they don't have to go back to work so soon. Being alone, I didn't consider any other option."

He found some relief back in the mountains. He could no longer climb the tallest peaks, but found he could wheel himself up steep hills in Big Cottonwood Canyon and around Silver Lake. He also resumed swimming and kayaking, and plans on skiing this winter using adaptive equipment.

"I decided to try everything," Yonnet said. "If I couldn't do it, I accepted that it wasn't possible. Now, it takes me 10 seconds to get out of the deep end of the pool. You cannot let people tell you what you can and cannot do. You have to determine your own limits."

Yonnet is passing on what he's learned to others.

Randy Adams, of Roy, was paralyzed from the waist down in an automobile accident last April. Yonnet treated him during his rehabilitation rotation, and met with him during his off hours to provide extra support.

"He's been an inspiration, just a great example," Adams said, choking back tears. "He's inspired me to stay positive and to look at life differently, that there is life after a back injury and to stay positive about doing the things in life I want to do again."

David Renner, a neurologist at the U. and Yonnet's mentor, marvels at his student's resiliency. "You lose the ability to walk and perform any functions from the arms down, all the goals you had become difficult and changed," he said. "Those are huge changes, and yet amidst all of that, his training had to advance. He made a concerted decision to not let this physical issue hinder his goals in medicine. He's developed new goals and realized other things are important in his life."

Among those cheering him on at his graduation was Shirley Langeland, whose son met Yonnet while serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yonnet lived with the family for much of his studies in Utah.

"He's really doing well," she said. "He's back doing what he did before, only a little differently."

Yonnet begins his internal medicine residency in January and will know in March if he'll stay for his three-year residency in physical medicine or transfer to another medical school.

Either way, he knows he will be putting his positive attitude to good use with his patients.

"I could have died but I didn't," he said. "I have the opportunity to witness my life from a different point of view. Now is a new page I turn, with new opportunities to see things from a different perspective. It enriches my life. I get to experience a lot more. I didn't bounce back. I bounced higher."