Paralyzed Dad Hopes to Walk Daughter Down the Aisle After Breaking ‘So Many Bones in My Neck’

A Colorado father left paralyzed after a series of devastating accidents may finally have the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle — thanks to a rare and groundbreaking surgery.

“I often joke that you couldn’t write a soap opera as bad as what I’ve lived through,” Russel McKeehan, a former paramedic, told CBS News. The 54-year-old’s challenges began 30 years ago, when he was working with a patient in the back of an ambulance and the driver fell asleep, causing the vehicle to roll.

The accident left McKeehan with severe, persistent headaches. In 2007, he underwent an outpatient surgical procedure aimed at relieving the pain but ended up on life support, paralyzed from the neck down.

“I truly hate even saying this, but I told them, ‘Kill me now,'” McKeehan said. “I don’t want to live. I can’t live if I can’t, at least, be a productive part of society. Thank God they didn’t let me do that.”

A decade later, he was able to walk again — thanks to Colorado’s HCA HealthONE Swedish neurosurgeon Dr. Scott Falci, who performed the surgery. But his trials weren’t over. Two years later, another accident struck.

“The lug nuts came loose on my son’s pickup,” McKeehan explained. The truck “ended up rolling four times.” He suffered multiple broken bones, including in his neck, sternum, ribs, and humerus, enduring intense pain.

Once again, surgeries helped McKeehan regain function. But as he began losing mobility due to residual spinal cord damage, he returned to Dr. Falci at the HCA HealthONE Falci Institute for Spinal Cord Injuries for another procedure. His goal: to walk his daughter down the aisle in September. “I want her day to be about her and not be about me,” he said.

Remarkably, within 12 hours of the complex surgery — for which only 10% of patients are eligible, according to Dr. Falci — McKeehan regained function on his left side. There’s hope he will recover enough to walk his daughter down the aisle in just two months.

Dr. Falci told CBS News, “He’s a highly motivated guy and he’s been through a lot,” noting that McKeehan has already been able to stand.

According to a GoFundMe supporting his medical journey, “He is able to move his left arm and leg NOW as well as the right side … he had not been able to move his left side in 10 years.”

As Dr. Falci and McKeehan explained, they are working toward him being able to use a walker at the wedding. “What he’s achieved just with self-determination and desire is amazing,” Dr. Falci said.

McKeehan reflected, “I decided to show my kids that when you’re given a bad hand, you can’t just give up.”