One small step for man...

In case you missed the article, Peter Exner can walk!!! For the article in the Daily Advance, I showed off walking around with one cane and my AFO(ankle foot orthosis) or lower leg brace. But now... I can walk without canes!!! I need the ankle brace to keep my foot from rolling out but otherwise I'm walking completely under my own power again.



When I arrived at PT I just wanted to test this out, see where my leg was and if I'd be able to hold my own weight at all. Unlike the full leg brace which I normally use this brace does not hold the knee at all. Needless to say my therapist was ecstatic when I was able to walk back and forth without using the bars! The video doesn't show my best attempts but is a record of what I can do now.


I got excited and tried to see how fast I could go; this of course led to me falling on the ground. While it was a little harder to get up than normal, I got back on my feet and kept going. Obviously this isn't ready for fulltime but this is a sign of where I am going. One day I will be walking around, without a wheelchair, without a leg brace, without canes, and maybe even without the AFO/ankle leg brace. I guess we'll see.