How groundbreaking tech helped a paralyzed veteran walk

You want something bad enough, you think you're going to get it. A Navy veteran told the unthinkable that he might never walk again. But after years of determination, you can see there he got his shot. Now he's taking part in a groundbreaking program using a device that could help restore movement in ways he never thought possible. Fox 35's Stephanie Buffamanti shows us it's all about a new way of connecting the brain to the body. I came walking out of the room and all of a sudden I hit the floor. And after that, Michael Weed couldn't move his arms or legs. He was rushed to Orlando Health and went into emergency surgery. Doctors found he had a spinal cord injury. Where I was told I may never walk again in the beginning, I walked out of therapy five weeks later. I consider it a miracle. I really do. I'm a man of faith, and I had a lot of help. Help from nurses, physical therapists, and neurosurgeons like Dr. Naman Chaudhry. It started from just being able to sit up in bed, get to the side, have the feet touch the floor, stand up, maybe walk a few feet to the bathroom, and then work our way up to the hallway and keep walking around and doing this over and over and over, over weeks to months. I got strapped into a body weight support harness at Orlando Health's new rehabilitation clinic. I'm in a body weighted supported harness and you can see it is holding me up and I also have the physical therapist helping me to walk. Someone who has gone through something like a spinal injury, this can really help them to get back on track, back walking and even standing. This technology here at Orlando Health is incredible and it really helps patients get back to normal life. You need to help get the perfect step in so that your brain is able to send those messages down your spinal cord, down to the muscles and perform the action that we're telling it to do. Weed has made huge strides in his recovery when it comes to walking in the two years since his injury. But he's still working on his left arm mobility, and that's where new technology comes in. If I shut it off, the arm is stiff, and I have to bend like this to try and push my whole body to try and pick something up. You'll see a sling on his arm, but this is no ordinary brace, and using it requires a lot of mental concentration. It's a groundbreaking device that senses faint muscle signals. When his brain thinks about moving his arm, the device detects that weak signal and helps complete the movement for him. Once the arm picks up the signals, it activates the muscle to work and feeds off the muscle signal to complete the motion for him. Some recoveries are more passive. You get surgery, you put a cast on it, and you're told don't move it. neurologic recovery is not that. It is an active process. It is the exact opposite. You have to move. You have to push it so that the brain has now the potential to grow, the potential to rewire. The goal? Giving him the ability to get back to a normal life, like just doing the laundry and doing things he loves too, like woodworking. The hope is that as he uses it, his muscles will rebuild his nerves will regenerate and he'll gain more function this is a big testament to Mr. Weed to have the ambition determination discipline to get up every single day even though you're in severe pain you can't move your neck your arms hurt nothing is working when the physical therapist walks in the room you're not saying hey you know today's not a good day no mr. weed every single day said, all right, let's get up and we started. A Navy veteran says he'll never stop pushing himself. Just the determination and the discipline, which I have to credit to the military 50 years ago. I never lost it. If you want something bad enough, you're going to get it. Stephanie Buffamanti, Fox 35 News.