Robert Woo took 300 steps earlier this month that he will never forget.
The 43-year-old architect is a paraplegic after having been injured in 2007 when he was working on a trailer near Ground Zero in Manhattan, according to The New York Daily News. A crane dropped seven tons of steel on the trailer where he was working.
On Thursday, November 3, the father of three whose mode of transportation for the past four years has been a wheelchair was back on the balls of his feet, with some aid.
"It was phenomenal," Woo said at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he's rehabilitating with the assistance of staff filling physical therapy jobs. "I was so excited to be walking on my own two feet, walking naturally."
As one of six patients selected to test run the Ekso 1, Woo advanced with the assistance of machinery that uses sensors and motors that pushed his legs forward. A physical therapist handles a remote control that advances the patient when the body is aligned.
The manufacturer of the machinery that helped Woo walk again is Ekso Bionics, which aims "to help people rethink current physical limitations and achieve the remarkable."