A paralyzed Syracuse man was able to walk down the aisle for his wedding thanks to a robotic device.
According to Syracuse , Matt Ficarra was paralyzed after breaking his neck in a freak boating accident. At just 27-years-old, Ficarra learned that he would never walk again. However, three years later, Ficarra is walking down the aisle with his bride at his very own wedding thanks to a robotic device known as an Ekso. The portable bionic exoskeleton helps patients whose legs are paralyzed stand and walk. The battery-powered apparatus straps onto Ficarra and allows him to take normal steps.
The amazing video shows how happy both Matt and his bride, Jordan Basile, look just seeing him walk at such a special occassion. However, Basile notes that she didn’t care how Ficarra made it down the aisle, all that mattered to her was that he was there.
“I’m so happy for him. Walking down that aisle means a lot to him. But for me, it doesn’t really matter. He could be sitting or crawling down the aisle – all that matters to me is that he’s by my side.”
Ficarra has been driving seven hours round trip every week for the past five months to Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network in Allentown, Pa. for physical therapy, and to practice walking with the device. Good Shepherd is the closest of about 40 sites in the United States with the device available to him.
Matt has been asking local government officials to help him get an Ekso at a Syracuse-area hospital so others like him can use it for situations such as his.
Ficarra isn’t the first paralyzed person to use the device to make it down the aisle. A paralyzed bride surprised her family and friends by walking down the aisle at her wedding .