Bride Walks Down the Aisle Three Years After Being Partially Paralyzed in Car Accident: 'I Did It'

TikTok star Brianna Seewald opened up about the determination and excitement surrounding her wedding day on social media

A bride in Canada is celebrating her first dance with her husband — and walking down the aisle at her wedding — after three years of "surviving the toughest battles" together.

In August 2020, TikTok star Brianna Seewald, 30, broke her neck and suffered other injuries in a car accident, leaving her partially paralyzed from the neck down, she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. And as she told her followers on TikTok, she was still committed to walking down the aisle with fiancé Ryan Borkowsky years later despite the challenges she faced.

Now, as she shared on social media, she did just that — and she even enjoyed a sweet first dance with her now-husband after fulfilling her promise to both him and herself last month during their September wedding.

"I worked every day for almost three years to be able to walk at my wedding. And I do mean every single day. I had three hours of intensive physical therapy and it was just a lot for my body to handle," Seewald tells PEOPLE.

"Then the day came. I had been practicing with my mom and my dad for a few months leading up to the wedding. They came to my physical therapy center and my physical therapist showed them how to hold me to support me with my leg braces. We practiced logistically how to make it all work," she continues.

She adds: "Ryan never got to see any of that. I never let Ryan see the practicing happen. Nobody did besides my mom and my dad. I wanted it all to be a surprise for them if I could do it."

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Since her accident, Seewald's gained a following on social media where she's opened up about her journey following the 2020 car accident, in which she was airlifted to the hospital after her car collided with another that was crossing a Manitoba highway.

While she was in the hospital bed, her now-husband, Borkowsky proposed to her, and at that time, she promised him she'd do whatever it takes to walk down the aisle, she shared in a new TikTok.

"After the accident, I gave Ryan the out. I knew the severity of my injuries when they told me that I had broken my neck. And I thought, this is it. I am a quadriplegic,' she says. "I told him I didn't want him to stay out of pity or fear of what other people will think. We were young and I didn't want him to have a life of just being a caregiver and being bedside with me."

"But he gave me the craziest look and he never missed a day after that," she says.

During their wedding day last month, Seewald rolled down the 60 feet aisle for about 40 feet in her wheelchair. With about 20 feet left, her parents came up to her with her leg braces. Seewald put them on and stood up.

"Ryan was already tearing up when I was rolling down the aisle. But when I finally looked up and when he saw that I was standing and that I really was going to walk in, he just became so emotional," she says.

"It was just such a full circle moment for all of my friends, my family, from Ryan and I, everyone who had supported us up until that point got to watch those moments happen," she continues.

Seewald, who has over 530,000 TikTok followers thanks to her inspiring journey and humorous approach to social media, raved about her "sunny and perfect" wedding day on the platform in her first video after the ceremony. As she explained tearfully, "Everything was beautiful."

"And I did it, I got to walk to Ryan on my wedding day with my mom and my dad," she shared. "And I can't wait to show you guys the wedding video. Three years of incredibly hard work, and the day that Ryan proposed, I promised him I would walk to him at my wedding. And I did it. And I got to do it in front of all of my friends and my family and everyone who has loved and supported me."

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In another Instagram post, she described the moment as "more than just a wedding," but rather a "promise I kept to Ryan."

"It was 3 years of incredibly hard and at times excruciating work, it was surviving the toughest battles physically and mentally to be here," Seewald wrote. "It was thinking I'd never have this day or be able to enjoy it, and I was so wrong. This day was my fairytale and happily ever after."

She and Borkowsky's wedding comes after an eight-year relationship, with the last three being the few they "had to endure and over come," she wrote.

"The last 3 years showed us we have a relationship that can handle the toughest storms," she added. "With Ryan by my side we are unstoppable."

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