A modern-day miracle: sixteen-year-old Mike Hill welcomes challenges despite paralysis on one side of his body.

Few people watching the 1991 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, realized that float 47 carried a champion. To the millions who saw the shy teenager waving at the crowd, Mike Hill was just another youth. But to those who know and love him, 16-year-old Mike is a modern-day miracle.

Twelve years ago Mike was involved in a serious head-on collission. His mother, Terry, and his sister, Maggie, receive minor injuries. But Mike, who had been standing up on the front seat, flew head-first into the doorpost of their VW Rabbit.

In the emergency room the doctors quickly assessed's Mike's injuries.

"Things don't look good," the surgeon admitted when he called the Hills aside. "When your son hit the doorpost, the impact shattered his skull and sent small splinters into his brain. We've got to get him into surgery right away; we just hope he makes it through the operation. The only thing you can do for him now is to pray."

Mike Sr. and Terry prayed not for their son to be miraculously healed, but that God would let their little boy live.

Mike survived the delicate brain surgery. But he slipped into a coma that lasted nearly two months. When he finally woke up, the Hill family realized that Mike would not be the same boy.

Because of the area of his brain that was damaged, his left side was paralyzed. His ability to comprehend and remember things was also seriously impaired. But Mike's biggest obstacle did not surface until he was in the first grade.

Mike began telling his mother that "funny things are happening to me," but Terry didn't think much about it. Looking, back, she realizes that Mike was experiencing his first seizures.

As time went on, Mike's seizures increased in severity and frequency. Although the attacks didn't put him in any danger, the loss of control over his actions made him reluctant to socialize with others his own age. And the heavy medication he took to control the seizures made him dazed and sleepy.

Mike's family continued to search for a new medication or an operation that could help Mike live a more normal life.

Shortly after Mike reached his teens, the doctors told the Hills about a surgical procedure that held some promise for Mike's seizure problems.

"They warned us that the operation was a gamble," Mrs. Hill admitted. "But if they could remove the part of the brain that was causing the seizures, Mike had a good chance of living a seizure-free life. On the other than, the operation would cause Mike to lose part of his eyesight. But what scared us the most was the fact that Mike might not even live through the surgery. Neither my husband nor I could make the decision to put Mike through another operation. We finally agreed to give Mike the final say on what would happen."

By spring of 1989, Mike's seizures had become more frequent--up to seven or eight a day. The doctors had tried all the available medications, but nothing seemed to work. At that point, Mike decided to go through with the surgery.

On June 13, 1989, the Hills accompanied their son to the hospital at the University of Minnesota. The next day the doctors began the four-hour surgery. Unexpectedly during the operation, Mike's brain went into one seizure after another. The doctors were elated, for the readings on the monitors were able to tell them exactly which area of the brain needed to be removed.

A week later Mike returned home with his parents. In order to learn to deal with his limited eyesight, he spent an additional two weeks at Mary Free Bed Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Then Mike began a brand-new life--a life free of seizures and heavy medication.

Only eight weeks after his surgery, Mike traveled to Pennsylvania with his church youth group for a seven-day compount. And he hasn't slowed down since.

When he's not taking classes at Gobles Junior Academy, Mike is usually out in the garage working on his newest woodworking project. Although he has the use of only one hand, Mike has become very skilled in assembling bird houses and feeders. To pay for his different wood-working tools, Mike raises beef cattle.

Mike has learned to type with one hand. And he is now transferring his skills to the computer. He hopes someday to get a job in the computer field.

Although Mike's paralysis keeps him from participating in certain activities, he isn't afraid of trying something new.

Recently he went horseback riding with a group of friends. As they started the trail ride, Mike's saddle loosened up, and he slid underneath the horse. After a saddle adjustment, Mike hopped back on his horse and finished the ride.

Mike has also tried cross-country and downhill skiing. But his greatest challenge was a 50-mile bicycle trek.

A youth club at his church started a class in bicycling, and the final requirement to receive a special merit patch was a strenuous bike trip. Not just 50 miles, but 50 miles in a 10-hour limit. Pedaling 50 miles would be a challenge for anyone. And for a teenager who has the use of only one side of his body, the feat seemed like an impssibility. But Mike accepted the challenge.

The club leaders offered to let him skip the bike ride, but Mike wouldn't hear of it.

"I may not make the whole 50 miles," Mike told his friends the day of the bike trip, "but I'm going to try."

Climbing aboard his three-wheeled bike, Mike joined his mother, the rest of the youth, and their parents as they started out.

Triumph came 50 miles later, when Mike and his mother crossed the finish line. Terry looked down at her watch. They had made it in exactly 10 hours.

"A lot of people were praying for me," said Mike. "I know that helped."

Mike's grandmother never doubted his ability to finish the 50 miles. "I knew Mike would make it," she said. "Terry was the one I worried about."

Although Mike has incurred a number of physical and mental losses as the result of losing 20 percent of his brain, he has never lost his determination. And it was because of this will to succeed that he was chosen to be one of the nine young people to represent the Seventh-day Adventist Church in this year's Tournament of Roses Parade.

Renee Coffee is Mike Hill's ninth-grade teacher at Gobles Junior Academy, Gobles, Michigan.