By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:17 EST, 29 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:00 EST, 30 October 2013 . An 18-year-old girl who was paralyzed in a car crash last year and told she would never walk again has miraculously defied the odds by walking down the aisle for her sister's wedding. With her brother and the best man at her side at the ceremony in September, Mackenzie Gorden slowly moved forward - achieving her dream and revealing her inspiring determination. She has been able to stand again thanks to a groundbreaking new therapy, 'locomotor', at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado that recreates walking motions by force until the spinal cord learns how to control the muscles. 'I never accepted that I couldn't walk . again,' Gorden, from Lake City, Iowa, told the Denver Post. 'If I don't want to be in the chair, I've got to do . something myself to get out of it.' Fighter: Mackenzie Gorden, 18, is pictured . walking down the aisle at her sister's wedding last month - just 15 . months after she was paralyzed in a car accident and told she would . never walk again . Success! She stands with her brother and brother-in-law after successfully walking down the aisle . Gorden was a cheerleader looking forward to captaining her team on a summer trip to Hawaii when she broke her neck in June 2012 after she swerved to avoid a deer and rolled her truck into a ditch. She could see her cellphone ringing but her limbs were numb and pinned beneath her. Two hours later, an off-duty emergency responder stumbled upon her while out for a motorcycle ride. In the days after the life-changing accident, she overheard doctors saying how she would never walk again and a pyschologist said she should re-think her dream of becoming a nurse. Weeks into her recovery, she spent seven weeks in hospital in Rochester, Minnesota before moving to the hospital in Colorado, where she was taught how to use a wheelchair and start moving her fingers again so she could brush her hair. Stunning: She is pictured left with her sister, Brittanie, and right, back in her wheelchair following the feat . Proud: She is pictured with her parents at her school prom. She is now hoping to become a nurse . Mackenzie Gorden is among thousands of paralyzed patients . who are undergoing a grueling therapy called locomotor. The patient stands on a treadmill with a harness from the ceiling carrying much of their weight. Then as the treadmill moves, therapists recreate the motion of walking by force - moving the limbs and joints as if taking steps. Repetition of this allows the spinal cord to learn to control muscles the brain used to . control. While no two patients respond to the therapy the same way, all do experience a change as a result. One attractive trait of the therapy is that, even if the . patient never walks, the movement - even one created by an outside force - gives massive benefits to the body, such as building muscle and bone density, speeding up circulation and warding off obesity. Then on her first meeting with her care team, one of her doctors, Dr. William Scelza, came in on a wheelchair and she learned he was paralyzed in a car crash when he was 17. She thought: 'If he went to med school. I can be a nurse.' She returned to Iowa for her senior year, where she cheered from her chair and, six months later went for a check up at Craig Hospital, where she learned she was a good candidate to try walking. By the end of the school year, she could stand up for 26 seconds - and appeared in her prom photos standing tall beside her parents and friends. Two months later, she could stand for five minutes. She also began using a exoskelen to help her walk - a frame that supports her legs, keeps her upright and moves by feeling her intentions by how she shifts her weight. 'I feel like I either have on a jet pack or a leaf blower,' she said of the feeling. Life-changing: She is pictured left before the car crash in June 2012 and right in hospital afterwards . Treatment: Gorden undergoes water therapies and a new training called 'locomotor' in which therapists recreate the movement of walking by force before her spinal cord learns how to do it . Persevering: She continued to cheer from her chair throughout her senior year of high school . With the other locomotor therapies, overhead hoists take as much as 30 per cent of her body weight away as therapists push her joints and limbs to recreate walking on a treadmill. By doing this, her spinal cord will learn the movement that her brain once ordered. 'I've never seen her shed a tear,' her mother Karen Gorden told the Post. Mackenzie, who returned to her wheelchair after walking down the aisle at the wedding of her sister, Brittanie, and new brother-in-law, Tony, is now hoping to start nursing classes. To help the family with the costs of Mackenzie's care, please visit their fundraising page.
Mackenzie Gorden broke her neck after rolling her truck in June 2012 and doctors told her she would never walk again .
But she was determined - and began undergoing a groundbreaking therapy that recreates walking by force until the body knows what to do .
In September, she was able to move down the aisle for her sister's wedding .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:17 EST, 29 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:00 EST, 30 October 2013 . An 18-year-old girl who was paralyzed in a car crash last year and told she would never walk again has miraculously defied the odds by walking down the aisle for her sister's wedding. With her brother and the best man at her side at the ceremony in September, Mackenzie Gorden slowly moved forward - achieving her dream and revealing her inspiring determination. She has been able to stand again thanks to a groundbreaking new therapy, 'locomotor', at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado that recreates walking motions by force until the spinal cord learns how to control the muscles. 'I never accepted that I couldn't walk . again,' Gorden, from Lake City, Iowa, told the Denver Post. 'If I don't want to be in the chair, I've got to do . something myself to get out of it.' Fighter: Mackenzie Gorden, 18, is pictured . walking down the aisle at her sister's wedding last month - just 15 . months after she was paralyzed in a car accident and told she would . never walk again . Success! She stands with her brother and brother-in-law after successfully walking down the aisle . Gorden was a cheerleader looking forward to captaining her team on a summer trip to Hawaii when she broke her neck in June 2012 after she swerved to avoid a deer and rolled her truck into a ditch. She could see her cellphone ringing but her limbs were numb and pinned beneath her. Two hours later, an off-duty emergency responder stumbled upon her while out for a motorcycle ride. In the days after the life-changing accident, she overheard doctors saying how she would never walk again and a pyschologist said she should re-think her dream of becoming a nurse. Weeks into her recovery, she spent seven weeks in hospital in Rochester, Minnesota before moving to the hospital in Colorado, where she was taught how to use a wheelchair and start moving her fingers again so she could brush her hair. Stunning: She is pictured left with her sister, Brittanie, and right, back in her wheelchair following the feat . Proud: She is pictured with her parents at her school prom. She is now hoping to become a nurse . Mackenzie Gorden is among thousands of paralyzed patients . who are undergoing a grueling therapy called locomotor. The patient stands on a treadmill with a harness from the ceiling carrying much of their weight. Then as the treadmill moves, therapists recreate the motion of walking by force - moving the limbs and joints as if taking steps. Repetition of this allows the spinal cord to learn to control muscles the brain used to . control. While no two patients respond to the therapy the same way, all do experience a change as a result. One attractive trait of the therapy is that, even if the . patient never walks, the movement - even one created by an outside force - gives massive benefits to the body, such as building muscle and bone density, speeding up circulation and warding off obesity. Then on her first meeting with her care team, one of her doctors, Dr. William Scelza, came in on a wheelchair and she learned he was paralyzed in a car crash when he was 17. She thought: 'If he went to med school. I can be a nurse.' She returned to Iowa for her senior year, where she cheered from her chair and, six months later went for a check up at Craig Hospital, where she learned she was a good candidate to try walking. By the end of the school year, she could stand up for 26 seconds - and appeared in her prom photos standing tall beside her parents and friends. Two months later, she could stand for five minutes. She also began using a exoskelen to help her walk - a frame that supports her legs, keeps her upright and moves by feeling her intentions by how she shifts her weight. 'I feel like I either have on a jet pack or a leaf blower,' she said of the feeling. Life-changing: She is pictured left before the car crash in June 2012 and right in hospital afterwards . Treatment: Gorden undergoes water therapies and a new training called 'locomotor' in which therapists recreate the movement of walking by force before her spinal cord learns how to do it . Persevering: She continued to cheer from her chair throughout her senior year of high school . With the other locomotor therapies, overhead hoists take as much as 30 per cent of her body weight away as therapists push her joints and limbs to recreate walking on a treadmill. By doing this, her spinal cord will learn the movement that her brain once ordered. 'I've never seen her shed a tear,' her mother Karen Gorden told the Post. Mackenzie, who returned to her wheelchair after walking down the aisle at the wedding of her sister, Brittanie, and new brother-in-law, Tony, is now hoping to start nursing classes. To help the family with the costs of Mackenzie's care, please visit their fundraising page.
the odds by walking down the aisle for her thanks to a groundbreaking new therapy, Colorado that recreates walking motions by force walking down the aisle at her sister's wedding walking down the aisle . Gorden was a cheerleader summer trip to Hawaii when she broke her neck in saying how she would never walk again and a car crash in June 2012 and right in hospital