Just 13 months after a river accident left him a quadriplegic the plucky Lavington teenager has gone back to school, has obtained his driver’s licence and has taken up wheelchair rugby.

“I’m trying to stay positive,” Dylan, 17, said.

“It gets to you every now and again, but if you’re not positive you don’t get anywhere.”

Dylan was left a quadriplegic after falling from a rope swing onto a sand bar in the Murray River at Oddies Park on Australia Day last year.

He damaged his spinal cord, has no feeling below his C6 vertebra and only has about 40 per cent movement in each arm.

Dylan was in Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital, including two weeks in intensive care, until Easter last year and was then in Melbourne’s Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre until July 10.

He still has weekly physiotherapy sessions.

Dylan’s positive attitude has seen the former champion springboard diver and AFL enthusiast take up wheelchair rugby and play four matches for The Redbacks in the Yarra Trams Wheelchair Rugby Competition in Melbourne.

Two weeks ago The Starlight Foundation gave Dylan a wheelchair, worth about $10,000, designed specifically for him to play rugby in, along with a signed Wallabies jumper.

Without the donation he had to rely on borrowing a chair while he saved for his own.

“Sport is really my life, I love sport,” Dylan said.

“I’m hoping to make the Victorian team ... by the end of next season.”

Dylan also hopes to make the Australian Paralympic team some day but admits “there’s a lot of training before that happens”.

Dylan has also gone back to school and is completing his Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning at Wodonga TAFE, before doing an advanced dip-loma in building design to become a qualified draftsman.

Getting to and from classes and his weekly rugby matches in Melbourne is no trouble, with Dylan having obtained his driver’s licence.

He has a Ford XR6 which has a modified steering wheel and hand controls.

“I love it because I have my freedom,” Dylan said.