A SWINDON student has spoken of his emotion after standing to receive his law degree, five years after a serious car accident left him in a wheelchair.

As Jerry Daliel struggled to his feet at the University of the West of England ceremony last week, his classmates also rose to theirs, giving him a rapturous standing ovation.

Jerry, of Taw Hill, said: “Five years ago, I was involved in a bad car crash which left me wheelchair bound.

“During my fresher days at UWE, I had promised my classmates that I was going to work extra hard healthwise to be well enough to be honoured standing.”

Over the three years that followed, Jerry faced difficult challenges and the dream of standing on his graduation day slipped to the back of his mind.

A nasty fall put him off the idea and the stress surrounding it began to pile on as the day approached.

But on the morning of his graduation, he was inspired to make his dream a reality.

“I saw all my classmates running around getting ready and remembered my promise to them,” said Jerry.

“It was only after a few minutes into the ceremony that I got a thumbs up from the graduation team which meant that there was no time for rehearsal.”

It was now or never, Jerry would only get this one opportunity to live up to his pledge from three years before.

“I only had this chance and it had to be right. As the countdown began I felt so nervous that I decided to chicken out, after all who would remember year one conversations?

“But as they called out my name, I looked round and saw all my classmates and heard them clap for me and I remembered the promise.”

Jerry rolled himself forward on his chair and stopped just short of Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Jane Harrington.

With a deep breath, the brave new graduate began to rise to his feet ready to receive his degree.

Recalling that inspiring moment, Jerry said: “As if I was dreaming, I pulled myself up unaided and put my hands forward in prayer position for the honour and guess what, I was stood on my feet unassisted for the first time in five years.

“I had done it, I prayed and said ‘thank you, thank you’. The roar of applause grew louder and louder and continued as if it was playing in my body.

“It was only when my aide alerted me that my whole class had stood up in support that I realised that these were not just classmates but my dear friends.

“After the event, I got more hugs than a bear could take and accumulated at least 50 shades of makeup from teary ladies.”

Jerry took to his LinkedIn page to tell his story in the hope that it will inspire other less abled people to reach for their dreams like he has.

Staff at UWE shared a video of the moment on their Facebook page, it has already been viewed 108,000 times in two days.