Flower girl, 4, takes her first steps – thanks to special harness

Isabella Luckett has cerebral palsy and cannot stand up unaided
Four-year-old stunned guests by walking down the aisle at aunt’s wedding
Using a harness attached to her dress and her dad she was able walk
It also also enabled her to dance at the wedding reception
The harness is called an Upsee and was launched last month

By DAVID WILKES and MIKE BROWN Daily Mail

She cannot stand on her own, never mind walk, so being a flower girl at her auntie’s wedding sadly seemed to be a step too far.

But the disabled four-year-old charmed onlookers by walking down the aisle giggling – thanks to a harness which was sewn into her dress and attached her to her father, allowing them to take the steps together.

She said she ‘felt like Cinderella’ – and to everyone’s delight the device enabled her to dance at the reception too.

Isabella, who has cerebral palsy which has left her legs undeveloped and uses a wheelchair, was two when she was asked to be flower girl at her aunt Louise Luckett’s wedding to Jonathan Heathcote-Curtis.

Her family hoped she would taking a few steps by the time of the wedding at 13th century St Nicholas Church in Wilden, Bedfordshire, last Saturday, but sadly it was not to be.

But her parents Gary and Natalie Luckett, both 29, heard about the new harness, called an Upsee, which was only launched onto the worldwide market last month.

Mr Luckett, who works on an oil rig in Abu Dhabi, contacted the company behind it to get one specially made for Isabella in time for the wedding.

Afterwards Mrs Luckett, of St Neots, Cambridgeshire, said: ‘Bella’s very shy but she told me she feels like a princess, like Cinderella.

‘It was so much easier to use than we anticipated, it really was so much easier than we thought and Bella took to it straight away.

‘She is such a happy little girl and you can see from her smile and from the pictures she did so well.’

Bride Louise, 31, of Amersham, Buckinghamshire, said: ‘We hoped that Bella would be able to take a few steps down the aisle by herself but unfortunately it seems as though she isn’t going to walk independently at the moment.

‘Gary had his heart set on walking down the aisle with Bella and as soon as we saw the Upsee advertised he was on a mission to find one.

‘I didn’t mind if Bella was carried or walks down the aisle but I was really excited for her to be there.’

The Upsee was invented by mother Debby Elnatan to help her son Rotem, who has cerebral palsy, to walk.

The music therapist, originally from Jerusalem, Israel, launched it through Northern Ireland-based manufacturer Leckey after successful trials in the UK, US and Canada.

She said: ‘It is wonderful to see this product available to families across the world. When my son was two years old, I was told by medical professionals that he didn’t know what his legs are and has no consciousness of them.

‘That was an incredibly difficult thing for a mother to hear. I started to walk him day after day, which was a very strenuous task for both of us.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2604663/Flower-girl-4-took-steps-thanks-harness-attached-dad.html