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Robotic exoskeleton allows paralyzed groom to walk down the aisle

Jordan Basile, left, and Matt Ficarra, center, exchange wedding vows Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, at the Doubletree hotel in Syracuse, N.Y.
Jordan Basile, left, and Matt Ficarra, center, exchange wedding vows Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, at the Doubletree hotel in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/The Syracuse Newspapers, Dennis Nett)

DEWITT, N.Y. – New York resident Matt Ficarra has been paralyzed from the chest down since an accident three years ago, but that didn’t stop him from walking down the aisle at his wedding.

Ficarra was able to stand and walk during the wedding ceremony in suburban Syracuse Saturday with the help of a battery-powered robotic exoskeleton called an Ekso. He tells the Syracuse Post-Standard newspaper that he’s been driving to a rehabilitation centre in Allentown, Pennsylvania, weekly since April to practice walking with the apparatus.

Ficarra has been paralyzed since he broke his neck in a boating accident in 2011. He married Jordan Basile Saturday in the ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel in DeWitt.

The couple leaves Monday for a honeymoon in Jamaica.

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