Gymnast who dislocated both knees in career-ending fall fulfils her wedding wish by walking down the aisle on her legs
A gymnast from Auburn University who suffered severe leg injuries while performing a floor routine has fulfiled her wish - that of walking down the aisle just a couple of months after undergoing surgery.
Twenty two-year-old Samantha Cerio from North Carolina dislocated both her knees and tore ligaments in both legs while she was performing at an NCAA regional semifinal on April 5 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The injuries ended her career as a gymnast but Cerio was determined to walk down the aisle at her wedding with fiance Trey Wood at the Fairhope Yacht Club in Alabama on June 1. She was bound to the wheelchair after her surgeries but she made sure that it didn't stop her from fulfilling her wish.
According to a report in Daily Mail, Cerio spoke about her road to recovery on the 'Today Show' in April and said, "I know I'm going to do everything in my power to make it happen." She also revealed that she was working with a team of physical therapists after her fall to make a recovery.
Cerio achieved her goal in less than two months and fulfiled her wish to walk down the aisle. She took to Instagram to share pictures from her wedding day in which she is seen standing without the support of crutches, something she had used a month ago when she went on stage during her college graduation.
Videos of Cerio's fall had gone viral in April and speaking of the accident, she said, "I could feel my pass was off by just a little . . . usually, even if they feel off, I can get through. When I had landed that one I felt like something was a little wrong. I thought I had just hyperextended my knees until I looked down and that wasn't the case. Then that's when I saw what had happened, that's when like the pain kind of started to set in and it got worse."
She was named the SEC co-scholar athlete of the year and graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering in May. Despite her career as a Gymnast coming to an end, Cerio said that she was looking forward to the future.
She had said, "I'm really excited just because I have so many positive things coming up. I mean, this is a small setback, but it's . . . just another thing to get through." Cerio revealed that she will work in Seattle for Boeing as a structural design analysis engineer after her wedding.