Jennifer Darmon walked down the aisle on her wedding day. That sounds pretty unremarkable until you realize that Jennifer has been confined to a wheel chair ever since a terrible car accident in 2008.
On Saturday, Jennifer Darmon, 28, walked down the aisle to greet her waiting husband-to-be Mike Belawetz, 25, despite being paralyzed. The head-on collision left her unable to walk, but with the support her husband, she did what she set out to do.
The two fell in love after Mike met Jen while she was working at a bank in Canada, but what was supposed to be a fun trip to the beach with friends turned into tragedy. A head-on, rollover collision with seven people in the vehicle left Jennifer trapped inside. Everyone made it out of the van except for Jen.
Mike, who had been dating her for two years at the time, had to lift Jen out of the van. He happens to be a paramedic and knew as soon as he ran his hands down his girlfriend’s spine that the unthinkable had happened.
Jen couldn’t walk and was left paralyzed.
Over the course of the next several years, Mike would attend rehab and therapy sessions with Jennifer in Canada and in Detroit at Detroit Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (a 90-minute trip) three days a week for three hours at a clip.
On their four-year anniversary, Mike asked Jennifer Darmon to marry him…and she said “yes.”
On Saturday, the bride walked to the altar with the aid of leg braces and a metal walker.
“You know, picturing your wedding, you don’t picture rolling down the aisle,” she said after she was chosen as ABC’s World News Person of the Week. “You picture the walk with your dad. It’s the most important thing. I will be walking down the aisle. It’s not an if or a maybe. It’s absolutely going to happen.”
Darmon made good on her promise and said “I do” to Belawetz.
“It’s so nice for everyone to see the end result. All the work I’ve put into it over the last couple of years,” Darmon said after the ceremony.
“I’m proud of my wife,” Belawetz said after his wedding. “Her accomplishments and it just feels really great to be here today.”
“The accident made me realize that if there is something you want to do, do it while you can,” he said. “If you have people close to you, let them know.”
Check out the amazing video below for more.
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- Walk down aisle ends long quest for a Lakeshore bride (windsorstar.com)
- Paralyzed bride-to-be trains for wedding march (cbsnews.com)
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