Quadriplegic man shares first dance with his wife
Joel Jackson was never expected to get out of a wheelchair after a car crash in 2009
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Your support makes all the difference.A quadriplegic man has shared his first dance with his wife, after being unable to walk for six years.
Joel and Lauren Jackson married in 2013, having known each other since they were 14. Lauren told him then "When you can walk, I want you to dance with me."
Those words had been more in hope than anything else but after undergoing physical therapy at Brooks Rehabilition in Florida, Lauren and Joel shared their first dance as a married couple to their wedding song, Edwin McCain's 'I'll Be'.
Speaking to NBC News with the assistance of a computer, Joel called the moment "Euphoric."
Joel became paralysed in December 2009, when he and five other young people entered a car with a drunk driver who crashed into a telephone pole.
As a result of the accident a 15-year-old girl died and Joel spent weeks in a coma after being thrown from the car.
It was discovered that Joel had shattered the part of his spine that connects to the skull, as well as suffering a broken jaw that prevented speech.
"People don't live through C1 injuries [the vertebrae cloest to the head]," Bob McIver, manager of the rehabilitation centre told NBC. "Kids sometimes do. At his age, it's fatal in matter of seconds."
The severity of his injuries meant for an upsetting prognosis, as Lauren recalls: " the doctors just said, 'This is as good as his life is ever going to be. Make him comfortable.'"
The first dance was recorded by the rehabilitation centre's staff and posted on the couple's blog, where Lauren documents their life together.
Mr McIver went on to say that Joel has continued to regain strength and body movement.
"That little step that got him something he wanted, and he looks at what's the next thing he can do."
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