'He is very determined to run again': Canberra teenager Elijah Arranz working to overcome skydiving injury

The Canberra teenager was seriously injured in a skydiving accident last November, forcing him into hospital in Sydney and away from home for more than nine months.

He misses school, and his friends. His ultimate goal is to run again. He wants his parents to push him in the 14-kilometre Canberra Times fun run on Sunday.

They were having none of that last one, but agreed to the five-kilometre course - at a walk. He'll take it. The 15-year-old has his eyes on something bigger.

"To run a marathon. The Boston Marathon," he says. "'cos it's the most famous one I know."

This is the boy who once ran every day for more than a year, because he read about running streaks and liked the idea of a challenge. He made it to 426 days in a row, surpassing his goal, but saw no reason to stop.

People told his parents if anyone could get through an accident like this, it would be this driven kid.

"And he is just proving everybody right, with everything," says Elijah's mother Robin. "He is very determined to run again. We don't know when it will happen, but he just keeps working really hard to get there."

Nine months ago, a gust of wind collapsed Elijah and his instructor's parachute as they finished descending from a tandem skydive in Goulburn.

The impact fractured the base of Elijah's skull; It broke his jaw, fractured the side of his face and his scapula, caused multiple breaks and fractures in his pelvis, broke nine ribs and lacerated his kidney and liver. A torn ligament from the back of his neck meant doctors screwed a halo brace to his skull, and left it there for almost six weeks.

His bones have since healed, his jaw with the help of a few pins. But the impact caused what's called a severe traumatic brain injury. Before April, Elijah couldn't speak, or use his hands, or eat; a tube fed him through his nose.

Since April, chicken schnitzels and Big Macs are achievements he's happily unlocked. He can talk now about the marathons he wants to run. He's moving more with the help of his therapists but relies on a wheelchair to get around.

Elijah survived because the last act of his instructor, the former soldier and experienced skydiver, the "incredible hero", Tony Rokov, 44, was to cushion his fall. The Arranz family, who are in contact with Mr Rokov's family, continue to thank them for his sacrifice.

The Arranz' feel no doubt it was his selfless actions that saved Elijah.

Once the Canberra community heard about Elijah's accident, there was a flood of support that humbled his family. The generosity would surprise no-one who knew Elijah. The young athlete is loved by his many sporting and friendship groups; this is the boy who once shaved off his shoulder-length red hair for a friend who had cancer.

In the months following his accident the Arranz' were overwhelmed with cash donations, items to be auctioned, work around the family home, meals, endless messages, calls and cards of support.

Gifts of signed sporting memorabilia, vouchers, hampers, presents and a Gold Coast holiday made their way to the family. There were multiple fundraisers, raffles, a dinner, a 24-hour basketball competition, a wacky sock basketball weekend and jars at cafe cashiers around the capital.

"We have truly shed as many tears for people's generosity, thoughtfulness and support as we have over the accident itself," Robin says.

It takes a village to raise a child, his dad told the crowd at a fundraising dinner, we're so lucky to have so many villages.

It was a nod to all the groups Elijah belonged to - running, jiu-jitsu, basketball, Little Athletics, his school St Francis Xavier College. All of the threads of Elijah's life in Canberra that had braided together to help, and who Robin now calls her "village peeps".

"You never know what's around the corner," Robin says about the turn their life took, but she has found strength in family and community, "and Elijah. Just continuing to be amazing."

Elijah and his family wanted to tell everyone who has helped them how he was going and thank them for their support over the last nine months.

They are grateful for Elijah's intensive care and rehabilitation teams, and staff on the hospital's Commercial Travellers' Ward - the neurology ward - at Westmead Children's Hospital. For Elijah's paternal grandparents, who rented an apartment and moved to Sydney from Canberra after the accident. For the Ronald McDonald House in Westmead, where Elijah and his mum now live.

Since July, Elijah goes to school at the hospital with 15 or so other students, which he loves. During the day he does speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and hydrotherapy. His sister and dad visit from Canberra on the weekends and school holidays.

His work is not finished - there's that Boston Marathon. And new sneakers in his collection to wear out. But Elijah and Robin hope to soon return to live with his sister and father at their home in Flynn.