Ex-boxer, 46, wheelchair-bound after M1 air crash achieves dream of taking ...

Ex-boxer, 46, wheelchair-bound after M1 air crash achieves dream of taking FIRST STEPS using bionic suit 30 years after tragedy that claimed 47 lives Stephen McCoy was saved by medics after the 1989 Kegworth air disaster He has since been left paralysed from the waist down but is determined to walk Thirty years on from the crash, he has taken his first steps using a bionic suit 

By Richard Spillett for MailOnline

Published: 11:41 GMT, 2 January 2019 | Updated: 15:14 GMT, 2 January 2019

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A victim of the Kegworth air disaster who almost died when a passenger jet crashed in 1989 has taken his first steps 30 years on from the tragedy.

Stephen McCoy was 16 in January 1989 when the flight from London Heathrow to Belfast crashed on the M1 motorway, killing 47 people on board and injuring 74 others.

Stephen was given very little chance of survival and medics were considering switching off his life support when he started to show signs of life.

As the 30-year anniversary of the air disaster approaches, the now-46-year-old has started walking with the aid of a bionic suit.

Stephen McCoy, who was paralysed in the Kegworth air disaster, has taken his first steps with a bionic suit, 30 years after the passenger jet he was flying on crashed next to the M1

Stephen McCoy, who was paralysed in the Kegworth air disaster, has taken his first steps with a bionic suit, 30 years after the passenger jet he was flying on crashed next to the M1

His family say he has never given up on his dream to walk again since the tragedy in 1989

His family say he has never given up on his dream to walk again since the tragedy in 1989

Stephen, who was an all-Ireland boxing champion before the crash, was left paralysed from the waist down when a Boeing 737 crashed on to an embankment near the M1.

He was saved from dying only by the intervention of an ambulance crew and spent six months in a coma. 

He was only able to go home three years later and his sister, Yvonne, now looks after him.

Mr McCoy outside the High Court in 1989, when he was awarded £1.4million to pay for his care following the crash

Mr McCoy outside the High Court in

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