Three months after he survived a crash that took the lives of four of his friends, Zach Judd spoke publicly for the first time since that fateful night.

Judd was flanked by his physiotherapist Annette Lemke and his mother, Desiree Judd as they addressed the media Friday.

He talked about his recovery so far, and said he's been working hard over the past several weeks.

"In physio they push me to do things…I couldn't do at first, but now I can," Judd said in a press conference at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Friday morning. "So they've helped me,

"At first it was really hard, but now it's not that hard."

The 16-year-old high school student was the only one who survived after the car he was riding in with four of his friends, Matt Deller, Vince Stover, Tanner Hildebrand and Walter Borden-Wilkins, was involved in a crash with a pickup truck in the early hours of Saturday, October 22, 2011.

His friends were pronounced dead at the scene.

Zach was airlifted to hospital in Edmonton, suffering from a fractured skull, broken rib, a punctured lung and brain injuries.

He was in a coma for 11 days, and when he woke up he wasn't able to speak, and doctors were doubtful he would walk again.

Judd's mother said the last three months have been a rollercoaster for her family – but her son has come a long way.

"He made it through," Zach's mother Desiree Judd said. "As he was first coming out of his coma and he wasn't talking and he wasn't walking, he wasn't really functioning on his own, that was probably the hardest because I knew how independent he was."

"Within a few days we were going from walking with a walker to walking just with supervision," Physiotherapist Annette Lemke said. "Then [he moved] quickly into the independence."

It's expected he'll be discharged from the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital by the end of February, when he'll return to Grande Prairie, and his therapy will be downgraded to at-home exercises gradually.

His physiotherapist is confident he will make a full recovery.

"He works hard," Lemke said. "He's told me multiple times physiotherapy is his favourite part of the day, which pumps me up too,

"So he's kind of my cheerleader as well," Lemke said, laughing.

As far as his future is concerned, Judd hopes to one day get back into football, although he'll have to wait at least one year before he can compete in contact sports.

"I want to play sports, but I can't play the sports that I like playing, because of my brain injury," Judd said. "So I have to take a year to get ready to play them."

Aside from the one-year wait, Judd is really just excited to go home.

"All I really want to do is just visit family, and visit friends," Judd said. "So when I get back it'd be nice, I get to go to school, which I really didn't like before, but now I'm excited to go back."

RCMP charged 21-year-old Brendan Holubowich with 11 charges in connection to the fatal crash, including impaired driving causing death, and failing to remain at the scene.

A preliminary hearing for Holubowich has been scheduled for August 27.

With files from Amanda Anderson