BROOKLYN (PIX11) — A father of three from Galway, Ireland, who was told he had a 5% chance of ever walking again, is about to embark on a 75-day journey from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Santa Monica Pier in California.<\/p>\n
Fergus Farrell, 47, said doctors told him a back disc severed his spinal cord by 90%. It happened in 2018 when he was trying to move a metal bench in his backyard.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Discover more local reporting on our homepage\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Farrell told PIX 11 News, “I got a more merciful pain up the back, next thing I got an explosion, fell on the ground, roaring in absolute pain. Couldn’t move my legs, tried to touch my legs, couldn’t feel my legs, then i realized I was completely and utterly paralyzed from the rib cage down.”<\/p>\n After surgery, Farrell said doctors told him there was a 0% chance he would walk again if he didn’t start moving in the next 72 hours and a 5% chance he’d ever move his lower body again. Farrell said he started focusing on just moving his big toe. It took 21 days before he could.<\/p>\n Farrell said ” and then eventually i moved the toe next to it and the toe next to it, and next to it. It was a process, an absolute massive drive to keep on improving every day.”<\/p>\n Farrell can now walk without the assistance of a cane.<\/p>\n On August 22nd, 2026, Farrell will start walking from the span of the Brooklyn Bridge around 8:30 in the morning. He hopes to be in California by November 5th or 6th. Money raised in donations go to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and Spinal Injuries Ireland.\u00a0<\/p>\n Farrell said he welcomes people of “any ability” to walk with him for any part of the journey. He said this trek is to prove to himself that he can do it, but he added; “I’m also doing it for people I may never meet, I may never know, that can take something from this journey and maybe help them start on their first step of their next journey.”<\/p>\n