The first dance between bride and groom at a wedding is always a touching moment, but there wasn’t a dry eye at the Johnson wedding. Something truly special happened.
The happy couple on their wedding day.
Sgt. Joey Johnson met Michelle Johnson (her actual birth name) at a concert in 2012, where they hit it off immediately. The two discovered that not only did they share a last name, but also a birthday. Joey had served a 10-month tour in Afghanistan and was struggling with PTSD. He took up motorcycling as a form of stress relief, but unfortunately, just four months after meeting Michelle, he suffered a severe accident leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.
Despite the major life change, the couple remained together, and Joey proposed in April of 2013. The couple were married in June of this year, a day before their shared birthday. “Our family and I have been through so much, but we all know that Joey is still the same person, funny and loving guy he was before,” Michelle told ABC. “He had to learn a different way of life with him and his chair: from showering, getting dressed and trying to function every day. But we are soul mates.”
On the day of the wedding, Joey pulled an incredible surprise for Michelle. Working with his friends, he rigged up a harness system that allowed him to rise from his wheelchair and share a touching first dance with Michelle. Michelle, herself a wedding planner, had no idea what was in store, which surprised her all the more. She says Joey isn’t the best at keeping secrets: “If you know Joey, he cannot keep a secret. But he made my dreams come true and I never knew how special our day would really be.”
Joey and his friends designed this harness so that Joey could share a first dance with Michelle.
“Everyone was crying in the room. It was so amazing to be eye to eye with him again and such a dream come true,” Michelle said of the experience.
The surprise was a great success, and created amazing memories for everyone involved. Needless to say, there was quite an emotional response from the whole room. Things are going well for Joey and Michelle, too; the couple bought their first house in July.
Via My Modern Met|ABC
