Weddings, aside from being excellent excuses to drink excessive amounts of champagne. Sometimes even the bride or groom is liable to break down during the ceremony, but not generally due to surprise. At his recent wedding, Kevin Taylor did something that shook his bride’s world. Kevin broke his leg thirteen years ago. What should have been a fairly ordinary injury turned into an ugly nightmare for the father of three. Instead of only a few weeks in a cast, Taylor developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, a rare nerve disorder which causes the victim intense burning pain.
RSD has no known cause and treatments are experimental, at best. Over the years, the situation intensified until eventually, he was in the hospital every month for extended periods. Doctors had never seen such overwhelming suffering in an RSD victim and opted for a radical surgery to put an end to his suffering. They amputated Kevin’s leg in 2009, leaving him in a wheelchair, unable to walk.
By October 2014, Kevin seemed to have found a new lease on life when he met Kim Didway. The lively couple met and in her words, “It was an instant connection.” She said that Kevin’s heart overpowers any handicap he might have. That heart and his fortitude would lead him to surprise Kim on their wedding day – but it was a that would need months of preparation. With his wedding on the horizon, Kevin Taylor determined that he would walk to Kim during the ceremony on that fateful day. He secretly began physical therapy and began learning to walk with a prosthetic day.
The plan was to remain in his chair on the wedding day right up until Kim entered the room. Kevin would rise with the minister’s command to the assembled witnesses, his groomsman would pull the chair away and he would walk to his bride for the very first time.
The appointed day arrived. Kevin and his Groomsmen waited, dressed in white shirts and black pants, red rose boutonnieres over their hearts. The minister gave his order to rise and everyone, Kevin included, stood. As Kim approached on her escort’s arm, her groom met her in the aisle. His steps were confident, and . He took her into his arms both brimming with tears of joy and surprise and they walked forward into their new life together side by side. Kevin Taylor’s story is an inspiring one, and is demonstrative of the power of love to inspire people to do great things.