SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Christopher Sullivan’s family and friends figured the soldier had already been through one of the most difficult challenges he could face when he survived a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan last year.

Now the 22-year-old Army specialist from San Bernardino is facing an even greater one.

Sullivan lies in a hospital bed, paralyzed from the neck down, after he was shot trying to break up a fight at his welcome home party last week.

Friends of the soldier say it was a miracle he survived that suicide bombing that killed six of his fellow soldiers. It left him with broken bones and a brain injury that took months to heal.

This week they are praying for another miracle, one that will let him walk again.