On a dark night over Germany in 1986, Ballard-raised Monty Reed, then 21 years old, jumped from a plane at 800 feet with several hundred others. The first 700 feet were smooth sailing for the U.S. Army Airborne Ranger during his training mission, but that last 100 feet was a killer, almost.

"I feel blessed that I'm even alive," said the robust engineer who broke his back and ankle in the fall. He said another parachute came underneath him, creating a vacuum of air above and preventing his parachute from staying open. He can walk unaided but said he feels pain neck-to-toe.

"My knees are awesome," said Reed. "Sometimes I use a cane. Both legs were paralyzed and my doctors said it would only get worse and I would never walk again. I prayed, and my friends prayed for me, and I was helped by the chief of orthopedics at the hospital and was walking two weeks later. It was a miraculous recovery." He was hired by the Japan Health Research Institute, which produced devices that reduced his pain. He still works for them and has sales reps in Norway and other European countries.

Reed has landed on his feet, so to speak, with his non-profit organization on north Aurora Avenue, "They Shall Walk," and his invention, the "LIFESUIT," a vertical robotic wheelchair he has been developing in stages to aid those who cannot walk. "It is a walking orthosis," he said, adding somewhat tongue in cheek, "If you want to get technical, my latest model, the 'LIFESUIT 14' is semi-autonomous powered exoskeleton reciprocating gate orthosis. It is a robot suit with pneumatic actuators, hydraulics, memory alloy wires, and synthetic muscle fibers. The 'LIFESUIT 16' you will wear under your clothes, and will utilize nanotechnology developed at University of Washington. It will enable some quadriplegics to walk. You're not lifting it, you are going for a ride. It will weigh 46 pounds, plus the (40-pound) scuba tank of air that powers it."

"How much does your car weigh?" suggested Leslie Neu, They Shall Walk resource director, as a comparison. "Same thing." Neu recalled Reed describing how he got the idea for the invention. "He told me that when he was (injured) on his back he read Robert Heinlein's 'Starship Troopers' going into battle in 'exo-suits.'"

"Our goal is to offer the LIFESUIT in the 25 thousand range," said Reed. "That's the cap Medicare and private insurance companies will pay for powered wheelchairs. Insurance companies are jazzed that it will allow people to go back to work while benefiting from passive exercise. If most disabled people could go back to work and have their mobility and life back they'd chose that. Physical therapists will volunteer from University of Washington and Seattle Community College campuses to help those testing our LIFESUIT.

Reed's daughter Ciara, 12, volunteers, and also invents health care devices. She took second place for her 'backpack robot' at the Robot Olympics in San Francisco last June. She said students control their backpacks on wheels to follow them to and from school.

"A lot of injuries happen when people carry their backpack," she warned. So why didn't she take first place? "The first place robot looked cool but didn't really do anything," she said.

"Monty and I met in 2001 and something in me said work with the guy," said Teddy Walker, 68, who was born with cerebral palsy. He struggles with his speech and uses a wheelchair. While he is not able to test the LIFESUIT 14, he, Reed, and Neu believe that with physical therapy he should be able to walk with the LIFESUIT 16. He and Reed met at the Philadelphia Church in Ballard. "I went to a silent auction fundraiser and nobody came so I became his P.R. man. When he is in the LIFESUIT and I am next to him, people make the connection that he is demonstrating a new wheelchair. But if I'm not there they ask Monty, 'Is it a jet pack? Are you going to take off?'"

For more information, go to www.theyshallwalk.org