April 30th, 2017 is a day that won't ever be forgotten by McKenzie Neufeld.

Neufeld was invited to a spring hockey camp in Kindersley after just finishing up his regular hockey season. During a spring camp game, Neufeld was checked from behind by another player and was instantly in pain. He suffered a Jefferson Fracture on his C1 vertebrae and a compound fracture on his C7 vertebrae which was very serious damage to the neck area.

Neufeld was told to wear a halo around his neck for 4 total months by a surgeon, but 4 weeks after having the halo removed the x-ray showed the surgeon that the halo was not working and his neck was still highly unstable.

Throughout the rest of summer, Neufeld enrolled in weekly physio lessons up until October to begin the recovery process. On November 8, 2017 McKenzie undergone surgery to have his C1 and C2 vertebrae fused. The surgeon put in 4 screws and 2 rods to secure C1 and C2 together.

Neufeld will begin doing physio six weeks after the surgery, and continue to do six months of physio. Doctors are suggesting that his side-to-side movement will be 50%, to look down will be at 30%, and to look up at 20% following the six months of physio.

Neufeld has gone through a major change of lifestyle since being checked from behind in the spring camp. He was always staying active with sports that included hockey, baseball and golfing which would take up all 12 months of the year. When Neufeld had any time of his own away from the three sports, he could be found working out in the weight-room for multiple hours.

Ever since the incident took place, Neufeld has been forced to be inactive which has been difficult to see.

Hope Martin, McKenzie's mother, talked about her son's positive attitude on dealing with the recovery.

"He has been a good trooper. He has never complained, or felt sorry for himself through the process. He's a very positive kid and knows he's going to have a good life." Martin said.

Martin also spoke about how her son and the rest of the family is thankful that their son isn't paralyzed.

"We just appreciated the fact that he's not paralyzed. If you ask any medical profession to take a look at x-rays, they would say he should be paralyzed. My son can finally begin to recover, and figure out what his new life is going to be like."