Dad Fulfills Lifelong Dream of Walking Daughter Down the Aisle After Learning How to Walk Again Michael NiedOctober 18, 2025 at 4:37 AM 0 Forever Photos by Lisa Parker & Ashley Logan Photography Chris Handy, a 50yearold father, overcame the challenge of losing part of his leg to walk his daughter, N...
- - Dad Fulfills Lifelong Dream of Walking Daughter Down the Aisle After Learning How to Walk Again
Michael NiedOctober 18, 2025 at 4:37 AM
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Forever Photos by Lisa Parker & Ashley Logan Photography
Chris Handy, a 50-year-old father, overcame the challenge of losing part of his leg to walk his daughter, Noelle Shumate, down the aisle at her wedding in June -
After a splinter in his toe became infected, Chris Handy made the difficult choice to amputate his leg at the knee, months before his daughter was supposed to walk down the aisle
Despite the setback, the 50-year-old dad to daughter Noelle Shumate went through physical therapy and even recreated a wedding scenario so that he could practice for the big day
All his hard work paid off as he was able to successfully support his daughter through her wedding
One father fulfilled his dream of walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding despite a life-altering amputation just months before.
Chris Handy was so dedicated to making that dream a reality that he learned how to walk again within mere months of having his leg amputated so that he could be there for his daughter Noelle Shumate.
The 50-year-old North Carolina father from Wilkesboro told WXII 12 that life changed for him suddenly when his leg was amputated at the knee earlier this year.
What started out as a splinter in his toe, which he got after walking barefoot in his basement, developed into an infection that required amputation to survive.
Forever Photos by Lisa Parker & Ashley Logan Photography
Chris Handy, a 50-year-old father, overcame the challenge of losing part of his leg to walk his daughter, Noelle Shumate, down the aisle at her wedding in June
"We made the determination to go ahead and take the leg below the knee, rather keep doing small operations to try to save it," he told the outlet, noting that this sparked a months-long recovery process shortly before Shumate was due to get married in June.
"To lay on your back in a hospital bed from January until April 2, whenever I ended up losing my leg, yeah, I laid in the hospital bed for that many months and then turned around and having to do physical therapy. It's very humbling experience," he told the outlet.
Despite the setback, Handy wouldn't let anything get in the way of supporting his daughter, so he got to work with physical therapists at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Sticht Center Rehab to learn how to adapt to life with a prosthetic.
While physical therapy focused on how to regain mobility and do things like getting into and out of bed, Handy also made sure to dedicate time to the wedding prep.
At Sticht Center Rehab, Handy quite literally recreated the wedding so that he could practice before the big day.
"We basically were able to simulate an entire wedding, and let him practice walking down the aisle. And then he also got to, later in his stay, practice the first dance as well. And I can just tell you, you could hear a pin drop in that room. Everybody was speechless," physical therapist Kelsey Robinson told the outlet.
All the hard work ended up paying off as Handy pulled off his wedding-day duties with ease.
"That flowing dress scared the crap out of me. I just knew I was gonna step on it. I was gonna ruin something. It was gonna be for God and everybody, but I used the cane and walked her down the aisle, and didn't have an issue doing the transition ever to the grass. So it's great," he told the outlet.
Forever Photos by Lisa Parker & Ashley Logan Photography
Noelle Shumate and husband Hunter
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For Shumate, it was a very meaningful moment: "To walk down the aisle with him was just, it's something I always dreamed about, and it didn't happen how I always dreamed about. But it was much more than that. It was perfect, because we got to do it together," she recalled.
Reflecting on the experience to WXII 12, Handy stressed the importance of his positive mindset.
"If you go through with the mindset of they're here to help and to really push yourselves because you want that quality of life back, then you know, you need to do that. You need to come in here with a positive mindset of, 'I can do what I need to do and go back to almost 100% of what I was doing before this happened,' " he said.
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: VoXi MAG
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