Paralysed dad walks his girl down aisle... in robotic suit
WHEN cancer left him paralysed, Chris Palmer feared he would never manage to walk his daughter down the aisle.
But the 55-year-old father has now been able to give away daughter Heather on her wedding day – thanks to a £90,000 robotic suit.
Mr Palmer had been told he would never walk again after being hit by cancer in June 2012.
He said: ‘ When I lay in hospital after the operation, one of the first things I thought about was my daughter’s wedding ng and how I wasn’twasn t going to be able to walk her down the aisle.’
But Heather, 28, who works for rolls- royce, found a firm called rexx Bionics that helps disabled d people walk.
She contacted the e company, which agreed to o lend Mr Palmer their exoskeletal suit, which is controlled by joystick.
After just half an hour practising, he was able to walk Heather down the aislee last Saturday at Darleyy Abbey in Derby, and stand d to give a speech.
Mr Palmer, of Beeston, n, nottinghamshire, said: ‘It’s s wonderful I can do this – it’s s fulfilling something that at dads do.’
He has a lower spinal cord d injury, meaning he retainsns some balance and could d control the suit himself to walk, stand, sit and shuffle le from side to side. The suitit mimics how humans walk, k, shifting the weight from one ne foot to the other.
Heather, who married Chrisistopher Halls, 28, said: ‘It is really overwhelming that my dad is able to walk me down wn the aisle. I feel really proud of him that he’s come this far.’’
Debra Leeves, of rexex Bionics, said: ‘Chris particularly wanted to walk down the aisle but he also wanted to stand up to do the father-of-the-bride speech after lunch.
‘Chris is quite pragmatic and he was determined to walk Heather down the aisle, and he wanted to make sure he understood all the controls. He was focusing hard on what he had to do.’