The Olivares family is getting ready to send their son, Zeke, to college. It’s something Zeke says he’s excited for.

A year ago, college wasn’t even on Zeke’s radar, just recovery.

Zeke suffered from several seizures that left him hospitalized, and made him lose the ability to speak.

“You never want to see your kids get sick, especially at the hospital because it's a very scary place to be at,” Zeke’s father, Olegario Olivares, said.

Before the seizures, Zeke was a student at IDEA Public School’s THRIVE program, which teaches life skills to students with learning needs.

Zeke said he was learning life skills to be able to live independently, but the seizures set him back.

“This seizure thing, it was really huge,” Zeke said. “I lost my voice, we went to doctors, and they couldn't do anything cause they told me my voice was kind of hoarse. I kept going to therapy so that I could go and get my voice back."

It took Zeke months to catch up on everything he had missed in school.

“We told him, ‘OK that you are gonna go back to class, but you gotta catch up with where ever you left off.’ We told him, ‘you need to start prepping for college.’"

With the help of his parents and teachers, Zeke did just that.

Zeke applied to and was accepted into the Texas A&M Aggie ACHIEVE program for students with disabilities.

Zeke became one of the first students in the Rio Grande Valley to be accepted into the program.

“At first I felt a little bit nervous and anxious, but when I saw that acceptance letter — I felt more hype and motivation,” Zeke said. “I can take that motivation to college."

Zeke officially starts as a freshman in College Station in August. 

With the guidance of adults around him, Zeke says he wants to give back to students just like him to become a teacher's aid.

Watch the video above for the full story.