Joey Johnson, 27, a veteran who served for 10 months in Afghanistan, prepared the ultimate surprise for his new wife on their wedding day: a first dance without the aid of his wheelchair. Johnson, from Fishers, Indiana, suffered a spinal injury in a motorcycle accident on Aug. 12, 2012, just four months after he met his future wife, Michelle Johnson, at a country music concert. Johnson's now-wife Michelle told ABC News that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Afghanistan and rode motorcycles for the rush.Just over a year after they met, Johnson proposed in April 2013. He cannot feel anything below his chest and is confined to a wheelchair. They set the date for June 28, 2014 -- the day before their shared birthday.Michelle is a wedding planner in their hometown outside of Indianapolis, but there was one element of their reception that she had no idea was in the works. "If you know Joey, he cannot keep a secret. But he made my dreams come true and I never knew how special our day would really be," she told ABC News The day of the wedding, Michelle's mother and new mother-in-law told her to take a break in the bridal suite after cutting the cake. Meanwhile, her husband's friends had created a system so he could stand for the first dance, stunning his wife. "Everyone was crying in the room. It was so amazing to be eye to eye with him again, and such a dream come true," she said.
– Michelle Johnson is a wedding planner outside of Indianapolis, but she had nothing to do with the biggest surprise at her own June wedding. Sgt. Joey Johnson—an Afghanistan war veteran who lost all feeling below his chest after a 2012 motorcycle accident just four months after he met Michelle—wanted to make their big day extra special, ABC7 reports. So he recruited pals to help him build a device that would allow him to ditch his wheelchair and stand up for their first dance as husband and wife. After they cut the cake, her mom and his mom made Michelle take a break in the bridal suite, and when she came back out, Joey was standing on the dance floor. "Everyone was crying in the room," she tells ABC. "It was so amazing to be eye to eye with him again, and such a dream come true." After his tour in Afghanistan, Joey dealt with his PTSD by riding motorcycles for the "rush," Michelle tells ABC News. But his accident didn't tear them apart, probably because they felt they were fated to be together from the very beginning: When they first met at a country music concert, they realized they not only shared the same last name (Michelle's maiden name was also Johnson), but also the same birthday (June 29); they had their wedding this year on the day before, June 28. "He had to learn a different way of life with him and his chair: from showering, getting dressed, and trying to function every day," Michelle says. "But we are soul mates." As for his big reveal on the big day? "If you know Joey, he cannot keep a secret," Michelle says. "But he made my dreams come true and I never knew how special our day would really be." (Last month, another paralyzed groom was able to walk down the aisle.)