Tommy Mead of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, used to run track and cross-country, play basketball, and play football. He was wrestling with a friend in 2007 when he was injured. Doctors discovered that Tommy had broken two vertebrae in his neck. A Web site dedicated to Tommy’s recovery from his spinal cord injury reported that the boy could not “feel or move anything below his chest,” after his injury.

Tommy has since regained movement...