By Gemma Calvert

BRAVE Stephen Badger proudly escorted his daughter up the aisle after being given just 24 months to live...before she was even born.


After being diagnosed with deadly motor neurone disease in 1982, he feared he would not make it to Emily's first birthday.



Proud




But as Stephen, 54, looked forward to celebrating Father's Day with his family, he told the News of the World: "The thought of heading up the aisle beside Emily has kept me alive all these years.



"One doctor told me, 'you should be dead by now.'"



But Stephen has never felt so alive as the day he gave away his 23-year-old daughter at her wedding to Paul Plowright. "I couldn't walk Emily up the aisle because I'm in a wheelchair, but my son Jonathan pushed me alongside her and I held her hand—it was a fantastic feeling," he said.



"I was so proud being by her side and I'll admit that I cried during the service.



"Not only was my little girl getting married but I was with her on her special day."



Emily—the middle child of Stephen and carer wife Cheryl—said: "When I came downstairs in my dress and saw Dad it was so special.



"We had a little hug. I cried and he couldn't speak."



He was 29 when he was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting disease, a year before Emily was born.He said: "The doctors said there was nothing they could do. I was very angry and frightened. My daughter Natalie was a toddler and we were trying for another."



But although he got steadily weaker, Stephen, from Doncaster, South Yorks, defied the normal course of the disease. Amazingly, he and Cheryl had two more children, Emily in 1983 and Jonathan in 1985. He said: "I wanted to run around in the park with Emily and her brother and sister like other dads, but I was always too weak."



Emily admitted: "I never thought he'd be there for my first day at primary school. My wedding day wasn't even on the agenda."



Stephen added: "I know how lucky I am to be alive. If I were to die tomorrow or next week, all these years will have been a bonus."



News of the World GP Dr Hilary Jones said: "Motor neurone disease is one of the cruellest medical conditions known.



Muscles




"It gradually paralyses the muscles of the body whilst the brain remains alert but powerless to change the situation.



"Tragically, the life expectancy after diagnosis is almost always about two years. But Stephen Badger, just like the physicist Stephen Hawking, has defied medical science.



"No doubt Stephen's will to live has been helped by his desire to see Emily married."



The wedding features in new BBC1 series The Big Day starting July 3 at 8pm.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/dad_1706.shtml