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Actor Uses Exoskeleton To Walk A Mile To Benefit Rehab Institute, Theater

 Michael Patrick Thornton using an exoskeleton.
Michael Patrick Thornton using an exoskeleton.
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JEFFERSON PARK — Right before Michael Patrick Thornton, who just finished his run as the title character in the The Gift Theatre's production of "Richard III," steps onto the stage, he whispers several names so softly no one can hear.

Thirteen years ago, Thornton, 37, suffered two spinal cord strokes that left him unable to walk and speak, confined to a bed at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

With no room on the hospital's adult wing, Thornton began his painstaking recovery on the children's ward, which he said helped "save him."

"I don't often talk about what I saw on the kids' floor — moments of stunning grace, rejuvenating comedy and soul-shredding tragedy," Thornton said. "But I will share this with you: 13 years later, before going out onstage, I quietly say the names of the kids, in a voice so low, no one else can hear. An incantation, perhaps. Or some sort of prayer. It is for them that I make the entrance."

Determined to celebrate both his recovery — and the success of Jefferson Park's Gift Theatre, which he helped found in 2001 — Thornton launched an online fundraising campaign with a $150,000 goal. The money raised will be split between the theater and the rehab institute "to turn our dreams into brick and stone and steel," Thornton said.

As of Monday afternoon, nearly $38,000 had been raised.

As Shakespeare's murderous English king in the production at Steppenwolf's Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St., Thornton traded his wheelchair for a robotic exoskeleton created by ReWalk Robotics for the Rehab Institute.

To encourage donations, Thornton promised walk a mile using the exoskeleton, which allows people with spinal cord injuries to stand upright and walk using a powered brace, a computer-based control system and motion sensors to mimic the natural gait pattern of legs.

"Since I first took my beginning tiny shuffles in a walker at the [Rehab Institute] walking a mile has been my number one goal," Thornton said. "For 13 years, I could not reach it. The last time I tried, I only hit the half-mile mark. And that took seven hours."

On May 1, Thornton reached his goal — right after "Richard III" closed — and took a victory lap for good measure, finishing in one hour and 40 minutes.

"It was amazing," Thornton said. "It took a lot of concentration."

While Thornton became accustomed to using the exoskeleton during performances, traveling a mile with it was still a challenge in the Steppenwolf rehearsal space, where he had to adjust for a slippery, slanting floor — and a pace twice as fast than usual.

"I just took it step by step, and it added up," Thornton said.

Now that the run of "Richard III" has closed, Thornton will focus on serving as the artistic director for the Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. The theater's next production is an adaptation of the classic novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. It opens June 23.

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