The groom’s walk
Traditionally, a wedding is the bride’s day to shine as she walks down the aisle, but not for Steve Symons and his fiancée Libby Gruber.
Almost two years ago NDSU student Symons, 23, was being fitted for his prosthesis as a bride is fitted for her wedding dress.
Specialists had to amputate Symons’s left leg just above his knee due to a rare case of bone cancer known as osteosarcoma in April 2005.
Two days after his pre-fitting in late February 2005, Symons fell and fractured his hip and part of his stub leg.
His newly fitted $80,000 prosthetic leg would have to be redone after hip surgery. Now Symons has finally received the go ahead from his doctors and specialists to try to walk again.
“I will walk with Libby at our wedding,” Symons said.
Physical therapy and weight training at MeritCare Southpointe hospital have strengthened Symons’s leg.
“Gait training” therapy helps Symons relearn how to walk with his hi-tech, bionic leg.
“There are lots of measurements that need to taken. Basically it’s guesswork and adjustments are made afterwards.” Symons said. “For example, one of my prosthetic toes may drag in the grass when I am walking, or my back may hurt when I go up stairs. These little things will always need to be adjusted and tweaked.”
Gruber has supported Symons through his therapy and surgeries.
“Steve is with out a doubt the strongest man I know,” Gruber said. “Sadly, many people go through what he did, but Steve had the most unbelievable attitude. During chemo he could barely talk but would always have the energy to slide in a stupid comment or a (bad) joke to lighten the atmosphere, even if it was just the two of us.”
Symons and Gruber will not be having a traditional wedding.
The couple plans on having a laid-back picnic atmosphere, complete with lawn games and board games.
“The bridesmaids’ dresses have been ordered and as for my groomsmen and me, we will be dressed in casual and ever stylish 1970s suits,” Symons said. “It will be a lot of fun for everybody.”
When asked if he’d be dancing at his wedding Symons said, “I will definitely dance with Libby for our wedding dance, but it won’t be pretty. I will probably dance better than I did before though. I feel so good and I am ready to walk.”
Symons and Gruber will wed July 13 in St. Paul, Minn.