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NORWAY -- April 24, 2009 started off like any other day for 22-year-old photography major Bob Coombs.  He went to his part-time job at a local gymnastics facility close to his school, Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids.

Like any other day, he practiced on the trampoline before work.  But on this day, he tried a difficult move that went horribly wrong.  Bob fell and broke his neck.

"I was lying on the ground and my coach was like, "You know, don't move," and I was like, I can't," said Coombs.  "You know I was really calm, it was a really calming feeling.  I didn't have any pain."

Bob was a paraplegic, having no movement below his neck.  Doctors said he would be on a ventilator for a year, but Bob was off it and back home to Norway in just two months.  While home, he struggled to stay active until an old friend unexpectedly came along to help.

Bob's high school art teacher, Shelly Danielson, asked him to help with her photography classes and since February, that's what he's done.

"It helped me out a lot because I got more stamina, like, to stay up the whole day," Bob said.  "I do have a lot to offer as a person and a photographer."

Danielson said the effect Bob had on the students' work was incredible, but even more impressive was what he taught them about perseverance.

"He never, ever, ever had a negative attitude," said Danielson.  "It was very hard for my students to have a negative attitude because he taught them a lot about life and how you respond to the day in and day out things of life."

Norway student Alex Arseneau said Bob really helped him improve his photography.  But more importantly, he learned to never give up.

"How much he's been through and how much he's kept the person he's always been," said Arseneau.  "It's impossible not to feel inspired by him."

Bob plans to go back to school this fall and finish his degree in photography at Kendall.  He knows there will be challenges, but he's anxious to get his life back on track.

"I don't want people to feel sorry for me.  I certainly don't, my family doesn't," Bob said.  "People need to know that you know you've got to get over it."