When doctors told him a snowmobile mishap had paralyzed him for life, Darryl Tait thought his plans for becoming a pro athlete had perished.

But with support from the northern community, the 20-year-old Whitehorse man has realized his dreams are still viable – he just has to adapt his equipment.

In April, the weekend after his return from his six-month rehab in Vancouver, Tait was back riding a snowmobile. His friends had helped him weld a seat onto the machine so he could sit up and ride his sled.

"Just to be in that environment and see my friends shred ... just watching them having a good time made it worthwhile for me to be out there,” Tait said in an interview on Wednesday.

But, the reunion with his machine was bittersweet because he couldn't do the same tricks he used to.

When Tait was at a freestyle demonstration sporting event in Fremont, New Hampshire last October, his snowmobile lost power while he was halfway through a flip.

"As soon as I got upside-down I knew the machine lost power,” he said. "The rotation was slowing down and I wasn't sure if I should start letting go or not, or keep holding on to see if I was going to come around.”

When he did let go, the back end of the machine hit his spine. A short while later at a hospital in Boston, doctors told him he would never walk again.

Tait has been snowmobiling since the age of five, and he has been riding freestyle for about three years. He said it was his experience with the sport that allowed him to know when to let go, saving him from further damage to his body or complete paralysis.

"My family and I, we always say it could have been totally worse,” he said. "It could have been just a bit higher and I could have been completely immobile.”

Jamie Tait, Darryl Tait's father, said he doesn't think his son realizes how close he came to not surviving the accident.

"As a father, it's pretty mind-blowing to a) have your son have an accident like that, and, b) survive it,” he said.

When he was back motoring across the Yukon back-country at the beginning of April, Darryl had no fear of a similar incident.

"With my accident, it was a malfunction with the machine, so the chances of that happening are fairly slim,” he said. "I'm not scared of it happening again, and I'm not going to be jumping that big for at least a couple of years.”

A couple of years, or a year, or a few months. The level of Darryl's ambition after his accident matches the scope of his dreams before it, and he said he hopes to be competing again as early as January.

Before his ordeal began, Darryl had planned to become a professional snowmobiler and one day attend the X Games, an annual sporting event that has extreme sport athletes compete for bronze, silver and gold medals.

It is like the Olympic Games for extreme sports, he said.

As a step toward that goal, he attended the event in Fremont, where a wealth of widely known riders were scheduled to perform.

"To ride with them, with the big pro names, it was an opportunity to get my name out, get some sponsorships to take me to the bigger events and actually start making a living at it,” said Darryl.

Although it is difficult to make a living out of the sport, he said he wasn't looking to become a millionaire.

"For me, I just wanted to put a mark in the sport where I was able to progress it, just be part of the history, I guess. And if I could do that and make a living at it, that sounded like a great life to me,” he said.

When the Boston doctors first told him he was paralyzed, "it was a little hard to know I wouldn't get that same adrenaline, that same sensation and thrill that I used to get,” he said .

"That's probably the biggest crushing thing for me is to have your son's dreams crushed,” said Jamie.

But over the next few months, as communities all across the North showed their support, Darryl Tait began to realize that thrill was still a possibility for him.

People in the Northwest Territories raised funds to modify his truck so he could drive it – a hand control near the steering wheel allows him to accelerate and brake.

Those in Atlin and Alaska gathered enough money together for some sporting equipment so he could ride as soon as he got home. He said he doesn't yet know how much money he has received.

Yukoners, too, collected donations for him, and friends of Darryl created a Facebook page in his name.

Chris Morton, his friend from the Northwest Territories, created the web site pullthroughdarryl.com to alert people of news and updates on Darryl's progress.

"It makes you pretty proud, as a father. And I'm sure Barb (Darryl's mother) feels the same way,” Jamie said about the response from the northern communities.

Because of that response, and because of the care he received in rehab, opportunities to get that adrenaline rush again revealed themselves.

While in Vancouver, Darryl tried sit skiing. Since he returned home, he has learned to drive his modified truck, an adapted snowmobile, a skateboard, and he is planning on getting a quad to replace his dirt bike.

The next step for him is adaptive snocross, which is designed for disabled action-sport athletes. The sport made its first appearance at the X Games last winter and was the first adaptive sport in the X Games to be a full-medal event in its inaugural year.

Darryl and Jamie attended the games, which were held in Aspen.

"It felt really good (to be there) because a lot of people knew me, they heard about my accident,” Darryl said. "A lot of friends were there riding.”

The X Games was a goal before his accident and it is still a goal because of adaptive snocross. He said that if he can develop the seat for his machine this winter, he would like to make it to the X Games for adaptive snocross by January.

"(Snowmobiling has) been part of my life since I was really little and I always loved pushing the limits and trying to create something new, be creative,” said Darryl.

"Just being up in the air, it's pretty fun. It gives you a little rush.”

Jamie said that he might not be as supportive of his son's goal of attending the X Games as he has been in the past, but he recognizes it is important for his son to continue working toward that goal.

"Do whatever you can do to make your life complete. As a young guy and with major dreams ahead of him, he's got a long road to go.”

Before his accident, Darryl spent almost all his time trying out new tricks on his mountain bike or on his snowmobile. He didn't have a job, so he was practising almost every day.

This year, he said he won't have as much time to dedicated to training because he will have to get a job to support his new independent life in his own apartment.

But before he starts work, he will visit communities across the North and thank them for their help during his recovery.

"Just showing up and showing my appreciation. That's all I feel I can do for the moment,” he said. "Maybe there'll be something I can do for them in the future.”