LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The heartwarming event was recorded as it unfolded in a school gymnasium. "We kept the fact that he could walk a secret the whole time his dad was gone," wife Melissa Cooney told the Welcome Home Blog.

As Cooney entered the gymnasium, he looked around for his family until he spies his son.

"Michael!" he shouted over the soundtrack of "We Are The Champions" by Queen. "What's up buddy?" Sgt. Cooney crouched down and watched as his smiling boy walked across the gym floor to his father.

"When my husband left on his deployment, our 6-year-old son could not walk on his own. He has cerebral palsy," Mrs. Cooney said.

She said that doctors told the family that he would never walk or be able to do much on his own.

"While daddy was away, he learned to walk," Mrs. Cooney said.

Sgt. Cooney was deployed in Afghanistan for seven months. "For his homecoming, we set it up for Michael to walk to his daddy for the first time ever."

As the boy draws nearer, his father leans forward and sweeps him up into a big bear hug.

The happy father of six holds Michael tightly, kissing his head, before greeting the rest of his children.

"Your children are so very proud of you," an announcer says over the loudspeaker.

Admiring the posters his daughters have made for him in his absence, Sgt. Cooney then gives his wife her long-awaited kiss.

"We knew he had it in him to walk,' Mrs. Cooney says. "It was just a matter of time."

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