Robotic device helps paralyzed groom walk aisle

Jordan Basile, left, and Matt Ficarra, center, exchange wedding vows Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, at the Doubletree hotel in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/The Syracuse Newspapers, Dennis Nett)

New York resident Matt Ficarra has been paralyzed from the chest down since an accident three years ago, but that didn't stop him from walking down the aisle.

Ficarra was able to stand and walk during the wedding ceremony in suburban Syracuse on Saturday with the help of a battery-powered robotic exoskeleton called an Ekso. He tells the Syracuse Post-Standard ( http://bit.ly/1yNLcr6 ) he's been driving to a rehabilitation center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, weekly since April to practice walking with it.

Ficarra has been paralyzed since he broke his neck in a boating accident in 2011. He married Jordan Basile in the ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel in DeWitt.

The couple leaves Monday for a honeymoon in Jamaica.