When combined with his patient’s grit and determination, a Denver neurosurgeon’s skills in performing a rare surgery may have allowed a man to walk his daughter down the wedding aisle against all the odds.

For Russell McKeehan, that simple dream for so many fathers has been something like the north bearing on a compass in a storm of health issues that started when he himself was a paramedic.

In 1995, his ambulance driver fell asleep at the wheel and rolled the vehicle, significantly damaging McKeehan’s nervous system—though he didn’t know it at the time.

It wasn’t until 2007 that the damage took full effect. McKeehan entered the hospital for chronic headaches, and woke up a few days later paralyzed from the neck down.

In 2017, after a long battle to accomodate life with his new limitations, McKeehan sought a surgical intervention from Dr. Scott Falci, a neurosurgeon at Denver’s HCA HealthONE Swedish, with hope of regaining some of his lost mobility.

The surgery was a success.

“I often joke,” McKeehan told CBS News Denver, “you can’t write soap opera as bad as what I’ve lived through.”

True enough, the surgery allowed McKeehan to regain the ability to use his arms and legs—a miracle, one might say—yet not enough to black out his unlucky stars from striking again—in the exact same way.

Driving his son’s pickup at a mere 45 mph, the truck flipped over 4 times after lug nuts that had not been fully tightened came loose and McKeehan lost control of the vehicle. He broke his neck, humerus, several ribs, and bones in his sternum. His recovery—then in its 12th year, took a major step back.

LIFE AFTER PARALYSIS: Millionaire Turned Quadriplegic Jon Ayers is Giving it All to Save Wild Cats, After Finding a New Purpose

This year, the broken man returned to Dr. Falci for another, rarer surgery; one that only 10% of patients will ever receive, in the hopes of achieving a single goal: to walk his daughter, now engaged, down the aisle on her wedding day next month.

“In my mind, I want her day to be about her and not be about me, and the more normal I can be, the more happy she can be about this situation,” he said.

OTHER STORIES LIKE THIS: Little Boy Beats Odds to Walk Mom Down Aisle Thanks to Special Harness – (WATCH)

Dr. Falci described his patient as an “amazing” and “highly-motivated guy.”

“Twelve hours after the surgery, we weren’t expecting this, he’s moving his arm, he’s pulling his arm up to his face, and he’s kicking his left leg,” the doctor told CBS. “He’s a highly motivated guy, and he’s been through a lot, and, yeah, what he’s achieved, just with self-determination and desire is amazing.”

SHARE This Inspiring Story Of Recovery With Your Friends…