‘I’ll defy the odds and walk down the aisle on my big day’
A BRIDE with the bones of a 100-year-old is determined to walk down the aisle after battling a crippling illness for 11 years.
Jessica Taylor, 25, suffers from severe myalgic encephalopathy (ME) and has spent almost a decade confined to bed.
The neurological disease was brought on after she had flu when she was 14.
She developed osteoporosis and before she turned 20 doctors told her she had the bone density of an old lady.
But after meeting the man of her dreams, Samuel Bearman, Jessica hopes to build up enough strength to make it to the altar on her big day.
She said: “I was told I would never walk again, that the best they could do for me was to get me into a chair. But I want to defy the odds.
“At the beginning I couldn’t speak or move – it was like being in a coma.
“To be able to walk down the aisle would be such an achievement for me, a moment to hold on to forever.”
Jessica, who has already chosen her wedding dress, is training hard with her physiotherapist to build up her strength and stamina ahead of her wedding next April.
For most of the last 11 years she has only been able to venture out on rare occasions using a reclining wheelchair. Jessica, from Cliffe Woods, Kent, met Samuel, 24, through friends. She said: “When I was in hospital at Christmas he just didn’t leave my side. That meant a lot. “I have carers with me pretty much all the time. It was the first time we had been alone together when he proposed. “He lowered my bed – I didn’t know what he was doing at first – then I realised he was down on one knee. It was very romantic.” Jessica will have to have a bone scan and get the okay from doctors to ensure her body can cope with the strain of her big day. She added: “It’s going to require a lot of preparation and hard work. “I have to teach my body to walk again. But I have always been a fighter and I believe I will get better. I don’t believe this is how my life will always be.” Working from her bed, Jessica has founded Share A Star – a charity helping sick children and their families.