Love taught me to walk again

Nathan’s doctors told him he’d never walk again. But he proved them wrong… and found love along the way.

- Amelia Saw

For most of his life, Nathan Wilburn believed he was defined by his disability. after a catastrophic car accident left him a paraplegic when he was just two years old, Nathan was told he would never be able to relish the joys of an active, normal life.

Then when he turned 30, Vicki Lanini moved in across the road – and everything changed once they met.

“Being in a wheelchair, I had become very overweight. I found out Vicki was a PT so I asked her to help me lose some weight,” says Nathan, 33. but Vicki turned out to be far more than a weight-loss consultant – she taught Nathan to walk, despite doctors claiming it wasn’t possible.

Right from the start, Vicki saw Nathan as someone with the potential to walk, rather than as a paraplegic in a wheelchair. and to make their fairytale ending even more magical, they fell in love. “We became very good friends very quickly. I felt like I’d found a friendship that I could really cherish,” says Nathan.

“I have the strongest belief that anyone can do anything,” says Vicki. “as soon as people say, ‘I can’t do that,’ I say, ‘Well, now you have to do it because you said you can’t. I don’t care if it takes two years, three years, five years or 10 years.’”