Inspiring Story of 2014: Man with ALS Fulfills Dream of Walking His Daughter Down the Aisle

Ten years after being diagnosed with ALS, Augie Nieto didn’t expect to be alive — much less walk his daughter down the aisle. (Photo courtesy of the Nieto family)

Augie Nieto, now 57, first realized something wasn’t right while waterskiing. As the co-founder of Life Fitness, he was a fitness buff — the kind of guy for whom waterskiing isn’t a challenge, even in his late 40s. Yet one day in 2005, he noticed he was unable to hold onto the rope as tightly as he once could. “I thought maybe age was catching up to me, as I wasn’t able to lift as much when I worked out,” Nieto tells Yahoo Health.

Nieto made a doctor’s appointment — and the diagnosis he received was nothing he could have ever prepared for: ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a fatal neurodegenerative condition that leaves the body crippled, but the mind unscathed. “It was difficult to comprehend what it would be like to dedicate my life to helping others become fit, and then become reliant on others to regain my strength,” Nieto says.

Related: So What’s the Difference Between ALS and Parkinson’s Disease?

When he was first diagnosed, Nieto thought he could beat the disease. “But the more I read, the more I learned that were no treatments and no cure,” he recalls. “I felt helpless. I felt scared. I saw what the disease would do to my body, and I didn’t want to live like that.” Most people with ALS survive just two to five years after being diagnosed.

Lindsay helps her dad sample wine on a recent family trip to Carmel, California. (Photo courtesy of the Nieto family)

The ALS quickly took its toll on Nieto’s hands and arms — he soon found it difficult to grip a glass, and eventually, to lift one. He tried to remain positive — his motto became, “There’s no wine in my cellar that’s too good to drink any day of the week” — but eventually, his resolve faded, as he feared he’d become a burden on his wife and four children.

Three months after his diagnosis, Nieto attempted suicide by swallowing a handful of antidepressants. Luckily, he survived, but in the process, felt he lost his son’s respect. “He made that very clear,” Nieto says. Similarly, his wife, Lynne, recalls their youngest daughter, Lindsay, then in her teens, pulling away.

“I needed to get better and be the man my son and daughters needed me to be. I had a mission,” Nieto says.

About 18 months ago, Nieto began working with Project Walk, a network of recovery centers for paralyzed people. “I’d seen what they’d accomplished with others — but they’d never worked with someone with a progressive neuromuscular disease like ALS,” he says. By this point, Nieto was unable to speak (he communicates by typing with his toes) and had lost much of the functioning in his legs.

Lindsay and Augie Nieto play a game of mini golf, long before he was diagnosed with crippling ALS. (Photo courtesy of the Nieto family)

Still, the center accepted the challenge. Their staff began slowly retraining Nieto’s body to perform some of the exercises he once did with ease; to expedite the process, he revamped his home gym, allowing him to train without traveling. “I call it Project Stud Muffin,” his wife Lynne laughs.

Then about a year ago, Lindsay got engaged, which only motivated Nieto to rebuild his body even more. “I made these workouts my priority,” he says. “Seeing Lindsay’s face helped me get through them!”

Related: Football Player’s ALS Diagnosis Raises Fears of Connection to Sport

Nieto hoped to walk his daughter down the aisle — a goal that seemed a little crazy, since he hadn’t expected to even witness her wedding day. “We didn’t expect Augie to be here to see any of the kids get married, let alone all of them,” says Lynne.

On July 5, 2014, ten years after his diagnosis, Nieto fulfilled his dream with the aid of a Rifton TRAM, a scaffolding-like structure that helps him stand. “Getting his hands connected to the TRAM probably took close to an hour,” says Lynne. But for Lindsay and her father, it was worth the wait.

"I kind of thought that I would’ve been looking at Chris when I was walking down the aisle with Augie, but I couldn’t look at anything but my dad,” Lindsay told Today.com. “I was just amazed he was able to get in his device and stand up. The sun was in his eyes, and I was just thinking that he’s done so much to be here and worked so hard that I just started bawling.”

Nieto shares a dance with his youngest daughter, Lindsay, on her wedding day. (Photo courtesy of the Nieto family)

It’s a moment Nieto considers one of his life’s greatest joys, though his favorite part of the day was sharing a dance with Lindsay. “I wasn’t prepared for how emotional our father-daughter dance would be — that was probably the highlight of this incredible day,” he says. “Weddings are about love and planning for a future — two things I hold more dearly now than ever.”

To support ALS research, donate to Augie’s Quest, a nonprofit started by the Nietos that has raised nearly $40 million since 2006.

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