- A swimming accident in 2014 left Josh Smith paralyzed from the chest down.
- But Josh didn’t allow his circumstance to stop him from thriving in life.
- Recently, he even went down on his knee with the help of exoskeleton to propose to his now-fiancée, Grace Thompson.
Of all the marriage proposals we’ve seen, this is probably the most heartwarming.
Josh Smith was paralyzed from the chest down after a swimming accident in 2014. He was 23 that time, and since then, he has been a C-6 quadriplegic unable to walk.
It took him four months of rehabilitation until he was finally able to return home. Soon enough, though, he was able to return to his life: driving, working full-time, playing sports, and even inventing products to help people with motor impairment.
“It was kind of just my own drive that really pushed me forward to get independent and learn new things,” Josh told Good Morning America.
Josh was able to thrive in life, but he admitted that his “self-confidence kind of went down the drain a little bit.”
He added, “I didn’t really think anybody would want to date me, let alone marry me.”
But he got it all wrong.
Last year, Josh met his now-fiancée Grace Thompson on a dating app and things between them have been going on smoothly since then.
“The pandemic played a huge role in how serious we became because we went on the perfect amount of dates to where we both felt safe and comfortable not being in public anymore,” Grace, 26, told GMA. “We were pretty lucky in the timing of it all.”
Josh didn’t want his condition to limit him in asking Grace for marriage. So, he figured out how he could get down on one knee for that special moment.
“I had this huge idea, and I didn’t know if it was even possible because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody do it before,” he said. “So, I reached out to my therapists and told them I wanted to try to get down on one knee to propose, and I was hoping that we could use the exoskeleton to help with that.”
Josh’s plan worked and in no time, he popped the big question to the love of his life.
“You are the most amazing thing in my life. I’m so glad that God brought you into my life. You are the most perfect person for me,” the groom-to-be said as he was down on his knee.
The exoskeleton did not only help Josh to propose on one knee, but also allowed him to stand up and give his fiancée a warm hug after she said “yes.”
“It was really cool that he was able to get on one knee,” Grace said. “But to see him stand up — I’ve never seen him stand before, so that was really great and it was really strange to, like, have him hug me standing up! I wish we could do that more!”
Via PEOPLE.com