During the summer of 2007, Devyn Gibby was looking forward to his junior year at Dana Hills High School where, among other things, he excelled in basketball and football.

Alan Gibby, All

Devyn Gibby enters the Provo MTC after patiently enduring and recovering from a serious illness during his high school years. He is serving in New Mexico.

Then, things changed quickly.

He began to notice a tingling sensation in his hands and feet one day in September. Over the next day or so, he discovered he could not read text messages and noticed he was beginning to lose his eyesight.

Six days after the first symptoms appeared, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a noncommunicable and potentially fatal disease for which there is no known cause or cure.

He soon became paralyzed from head to toe and had lost more than 20 percent of his eyesight. The doctors put him on oxygen and began feeding him from a tube after he lost the ability to eat food on his own. At this point, about all Devyn could move were his eyes.

Friends and many others in the community, including members of other faiths, pulled together for Devyn, including fasting and offering prayers on his behalf.

Devyn's body began to respond in a miraculous way to the many clinical treatments, including transfusions and even acupuncture.

After nearly a month in the hospital, he was released to go home and finish his recovery. A few days later, he attended his high school homecoming football game in a wheelchair. During a TV interview at the game, Devyn said he would be back.

Throughout December and early January, he went to a fitness club almost every day to shoot baskets. He found basketball to be wonderful therapy.

Through it all, he never once complained. He never asked, "Why me?" He was thankful for his friends and family who were all there for him.

He was cleared by doctors to play limited basketball for the high school team in the middle of January. A few days later, before a standing ovation from true friends, his dream came true! He got into the game, drove the ball down the court and scored a basket.

He worked even harder to make it back for his senior year of football. He kept the promise, given during the television interview one year earlier, coming back to score a touchdown in the 2008 homecoming game.

Devyn was awarded special community service commendations, scholarships and athletic awards. He earned his Eagle Scout and Duty to God awards.

In April of this year, he accepted a call to serve in the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission, a lifelong goal of his. He is now in New Mexico to serve others and to try his very best to give back for the true miracle that, through patience and perseverance, took place during the two previous years.

Alan Gibby of the Capis-trano 1st Ward, San Clemente California Stake, is a TV sports producer/director.