Overcoming Obstacles | A Family’s Incredible Wedding Story

Our featured blog winner, Jordan & Micah have an incredible wedding story to share. It’s about determination, love, and family. It’s about overcoming obstacles to reach your dreams. County Line Event Center couldn’t be happier to share wedding stories like these.

Jordan’s father Jeff, has been living his life with a spinal cord injury caused by a staff infection of unknown origin. During the month of October 2018, unfortunately he lost feeling and the use of his legs. This triggered an emergency surgery on Halloween to help Jeff with the effects of his injury. Jeff was transferred to TIRR Memorial Herman and was an inpatient for a little over a month. On his release in December, Jeff was in a wheelchair unable to stand or walk. Knowing that Jeff’s life has changed dramatically, his family took the big and emotional step to move to a new home that could accommodate his needs.

In August 2019, Jordan was engaged to be married, and Jeff was determined to walk her down the aisle (which seemed like a very lofty goal at the time). He started physical and occupational therapy five days per week, with Jordan’s family helping out to make sure he wouldn’t miss one session. His therapists, Rene and Tomi, were remarkable! Jeff was chosen as the patient of the month for his tenacity and perseverance. He battled through extreme pain daily with the goal of walking on his mind. He worked with special devices and leg supports, and progressed to a walker with metal leg supports in July. By the end of July, he began practicing walking long enough distances to get Jordan down the aisle.

The day before the wedding, his therapist Tomi strapped pillows to her legs and covered them with a sheet to simulate the width of Jordan’s dress. They played the ceremony wedding music over the speakers and practiced his walk down the aisle. Everyone clapped and cheered.

His trip down the aisle on August 3rd was one of his firsts without the bulky metal leg supports, and we held our breath, hoping he wouldn’t stumble. As he rose from his wheelchair, after 10 months of intensive physical therapy, guests were brought to tears as he walked Jordan down the aisle. He didn’t fall! Once he reached the officiant, he kissed Jordan and returned to his wheelchair for the remainder of the wedding. Miraculously, Jeff was also able to enjoy brief standing moments for a short father-daughter dance, and a dance with his wife for the first time in over a year. While not the ballroom style Jeff & his wife were used to after two years of lessons, it was a perfect and beautiful moment. Jeff was determined, even through the painful therapy, to walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day!

Today, Jeff is able to walk with a cane, and still has hopes of walking freely one day.

Photography: Mara Williams Photography