Matt Stewart is a glass half-full type of person. He beams with optimism and determination, despite facing enormous challenges and obstacles over the last few years.

On April 13, 2019, the 41-year-old Horry County man was stopped at a red light while on his motorcycle when he was rearended by a car. He was paralyzed from the chest down. The wreck broke Stewart’s back, ribs and pelvis. He had 42 fractures.

“We kind of knew that he wasn’t going to walk again,” says Bobbi Harris, Stewart’s fiancé.

Stewart was discharged from the hospital and referred to Tidelands Health Rehabilitation Services, where he met his therapist, Paula Denn. He didn’t know it at the time, but Denn would become a big part of Stewart’s life.

“When I first got the referral for Matt to come to therapy, it didn’t really say what his accident was,” says Denn. “I could read the fractures, I could read the broken bones, I could read the surgeries. I had all that, but it never said what happened. When Matt came in and he explained the whole story to me, it’s one of those stories that just made my heart sink.”

After finishing four months of therapy with Denn, Stewart was able to move around on his own. He could drive and was able to go back to a normal life – until June 3, 2020, just a little over a year later.

Almost in the same location as his first wreck, Stewart and his family were sitting at a red light when a car crossed three lanes of traffic and hit them head-on.

“All I could hear was Matt screaming,” Harris says.

The wreck was devastating to the progress Stewart had made in physical therapy.

“I went completely non-independent after the second accident,” says Stewart. “I couldn’t move myself around. I gained a lot of weight, wasn’t able to do anything for myself.”

After 10 surgeries, Stewart found his way back to Denn at Tidelands Health Rehabilitation Services. But the approach to treatment was different this time because of his injuries and physical health.

“After the first accident he had two strong arms. With his strong arms he could do anything,” says Denn. “But now he’s coming in and his arms aren’t strong.”

But Stewart was determined to get moving again. Through extensive research, he discovered exoskeleton technology that provides powered hip and knee motion, helping individuals with spinal cord injuries to stand upright and walk again.

“You’re able to stand, you’re able to sit, you’re able to walk, you’re able to do stairs,” says Stewart. “You just need to make that first step.”

While Stewart had the unwavering determination to take that step, he knew he couldn’t do it alone. He needed a professional who was willing to get the required training to help him use the technology.

From the beginning, Denn was all in. Without hesitation, she completed the necessary training, becoming the first therapist in Horry and Georgetown counties to receive the required approval to help patients use the ReWalk exoskeleton.

While Stewart’s deterioration can’t be reversed, it can be slowed through standing and walking, which he can do with the help of the exoskeleton, Denn says.

“I never imagined a future in my career working with exoskeletons to help paralyzed humans walk,” Denn says. “Matt standing up for the first time, taking a picture hugging his family, was probably one of the most personal changing moments of my life.”

Stewart knew that learning to use the exoskeleton would change his life, but it wasn’t a smooth path. It took 38 sessions with Denn learning how to use the equipment to walk on his own again, as well as additional practice at home.

“In the beginning, it takes a lot of practice,” Stewart says. “Some days, you couldn’t get the rhythm down with exoskeleton. And those weren’t necessarily bad days – they were learning days, but they were frustrating days.”

After around 100 hours of training with the exoskeleton, Stewart was cleared to use it in his daily life. For all the good days, bad days and other days in between, Stewart never lost sight of the moments that truly mattered, the moments that made life worth living.

“To see a man who has been through as much as he’s been through, he smiled every day,” Denn says. “He can walk his daughter down the aisle when she gets married. There is nothing that’s going to hold Matt back and that is the big effect on his life. He has encouraged and influenced me to remember that the hard times are short-lived and that we have a lot of great things to live for.”