In 2007, Kevin Morton Jr. was a 22-year-old college student who worked nights at a Detroit Arby’s. His plan was to work through school and go into pharmaceuticals. Then he was robbed one night while closing, shot in the abdomen and left with a 10 percent chance to live through the night.

With the help of Dr. Dharti Sheth-Zelmanski and the staff at Detroit’s St. John’s hospital, Morton survived the incident and spent the next 50 days recovering. The experience completely changed Morton’s life and career goals and inspired him to go into medicine. Now, nine years later, he’s started his residency at that same hospital where his life was saved.

“The compassion and drive that Dr. Sheth has shown in trying to save my life … I just wanna pay that forward,” Morton told NBC News.

“We knew he wasn’t going to give up,” Sheth-Zelmanski said of the night where she first met Morton. “We weren’t gonna give up — so we had to make it happen.”

Morton, now 31, graduated last week from Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Seeing what people can do with their lives once they get a second chance is inspiring. If Dr. Sheth-Zelmanski would’ve have been there to save Dr. Morton’s life all those years ago, there’s no telling how many lives would’ve been affected.

Photo Credit: Twitter