Franklin Matthias took his first steps, with the aid of a walker, when he was 3 years old.
His mother, Clementine Matthias, was too stunned, too elated, to photograph the moment. She had been told that her son would most likely never walk on his own, and so his solitary paces came with much celebration. His premature birth had yielded myriad complications, including cerebral palsy and autism.
Yet on a recent afternoon in the Bronx, walking home from school, Franklin, 14, moved with such brisk, determined strides that his mother and 9-year-old sister, Nevaeh, lagged yards behind. He stopped at every street corner, never leaving his mother’s gaze.