To watch Dominic Martinez walk and run, you'd almost think he was just like any other 15-year-old. He runs with a stiff stride, but then most of us aren't blessed with perfect form. It's hard to believe that this Denver North sophomore has struggled for his life for the last three years.

On Mother's Day, 2002, Dominic was rushed to the hospital because of an aneurysm in his brain stem. One of his blood vessels burst and the excess blood and pressure caused him to go into a coma. In fact, Dominic spent the entire summer in that coma.

When he woke up from the coma, Dominic was confined to a wheelchair. He spent countless hours in therapy at Denver's Children's Hospital each week to try to improve his strength, balance and coordination. "My muscles were stiff. It was very painful. My legs felt stuck in place and it hurt when they did move."

Dominic had poor muscle control and bad balance, but his therapist says he worked through the pain with a determination that she's never seen with any other patient. He eventually progressed to being able to walk with the aid of a walker. But that wasn't enough for the young teen with a strong spirit. "He told me that he didn't want to just sit around the house. He wanted to be able to get up and run around the block," Dominic's mother, Cynthia, remembers.

But doctors warned Dominic to slow down. They were concerned that he was pushing himself too hard. "The odds were against me," Dominic tells me, lost in his thoughts, but he says he fought against those odds and was able to walk on his own after a year and a half of struggle.

"I remembered when standing was such a challenge for him... when everything was such a struggle," Cynthia says, "so I was so happy to see him smiling again and laughing again."Dominic wasn't satisfied with just being able to walk on his own; he wanted to run. He tripped and fell many times, but he always fought through the pain and kept trying.

After spending his eighth grade school year stuck at home, Dominic was able to return to school for his freshman year of high school. "I was allowed to rejoin my class. My friends are amazed at what I can do," he says with a smile. Dominic has also set an example for his neighbors. They watched him be carried home from the hospital on a stretcher and now they see him running. Some of the neighbors have started walking for exercise. "They say if I can do it, they can do it!"

Now Dominic is able to run around the track at North High School. At first it was one lap. Then two. Now he can run 12 laps at a time. His best time is three miles in 20 minutes. And like most motivated runners, that's not fast enough to please him. "I don't want to be slow. I want to get a minute off my time." He isn't the most efficient, but he plugs along. He says he focuses on his form and keeping his legs loose. "It's gradually getting easier."

Dominic has the goal of running on the cross country and track teams for his school. He follows a rigorous workout schedule to improve his strength and endurance, spending at least an hour a day on a stairmaster, cross country machine, or running. He also earns straight A's in his classes and has plans to attend college.

"He's very disciplined," his mother says with a grin. "He won't drink soda or eat sweets. He doesn't sit around playing video games like other kids his age." She adds that Dominic wasn't dedicated to a healthy diet before the aneurysm, but now he encourages her to eat healthier foods and tries to get his three brothers and four sisters to take a disciplined approach to exercising.

When asked about his dedication, Dominic simply replies, "A bad diet will slow me down and I don't need anything to slow me down." On further reflection, he adds, "Before I was in the hospital, I didn't have such a passion. I took a lot for granted. But now I know that you only get one life and this is my one body and I don't want to take it for granted."

"Truly, truly amazing!" exclaims Jen Chudy, Dominic's physical therapist, when asked to talk about him. "And, he's done most of it on his own, out of his own will. When we sent him home in July of 2002, I never would have imagined he would be running laps at the track two years later. I've never seen someone come this far. He is one of our miracle stories."

And when Dominic's mother is asked if she thought he could do it, she replies, "I would watch him push past the pain. I knew he had what it took to get back up and keep trying."