All college students dream of walking across the stage at graduation, but it was even more meaningful when that dream came true for Aldo Amenta. In 2015, just months after his college career began, he was paralyzed in a diving accident. “I could have died that day because I drowned and everything,” he says. “After that, my heart stopped.”
But he survived, putting his education on hold while he spent years in therapy relearning how to walk. All of his efforts paid off and helped get him back on his feet. Aldo first walked across the stage in 2018, when he earned his undergraduate degree at Florida International University with help from an exoskeleton. And he just did it again when he made his way across the stage to get his new master’s degree in biomedical engineering from FIU.
“This is one of the biggest moments of my life,” Aldo says. “Super excited, grateful, so glad to be here today.” His serious spinal cord injury and recovery inspired him to pursue a career as a biomedical engineer so he can do research and develop new technologies for people like him. He also hopes stem cell treatment or a stimulator device can help him walk again in the future.
Source:WSVN
Photo: Getty Images