Columbine Shooting Anniversary

April 19, 2009— -- If you saw him walking in a Denver park with his wife, you wouldn't necessarily know. Maybe you'd detect the slight limp from the metal brace he still wears on his right calf. Occasionally people notice his handshake is a bit odd.

But when the 27-year-old walks down the street, he often gets looks of recognition. Sometimes people stop him and ask, "Where do I know you from?"

If they remember, their minds snap back to that terrible day 10 years ago Monday -- April 20, 1999.

Patrick Ireland was the face in the window in one of the iconic images of the Columbine High School shooting.

He had been shot twice in the head and once in the foot and lost feeling in half of his body. Over three hours, he managed to drag himself across Columbine's library floor, hoisted himself up to the window sill and pulled himself over the ledge, dropping down into the arms of a SWAT team that was standing atop an armored truck.

That scene, played out on television and seen in photos across the world, became one of the images that defined the Columbine massacre in the mind of the public. And for 10 years now, Patrick Ireland has been linked to it.

"I feel pretty good about it, actually," Ireland said in an interview with "Good Morning America." He said to him the image represents overcoming obstacles and speaks to how good triumphed over evil that day.

"(It's) an instance of hope and courage and being able to say, 'Listen, we can overcome stuff like this,'" Ireland said.

Ireland, who has been married for three years to his college sweetheart, Kacie, is a financial planner in the Denver area.

He still has one bullet lodged in his brain, because doctors decided it was too risky to remove it. It took months for him to learn how to walk again. The kid who loved sports in high school had to give up basketball but still goes waterskiing.

"I knew there was some things that I would absolutely not want to give up," Ireland said.

Someday there will be kids. But first, Patrick has told his wife he'll buy a house.

"I really want a dog," he said. "And she says, 'Well, if you want a dog, get me a house with a yard.'"