Bride moved her wedding to the hospital so her terminally ill father could fulfill his lifelong dream
Nurses and doctors organized an impromptu ceremony in under 24 hours.
A team at Endeavor Health Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois, organized a last-minute garden ceremony so 66-year-old patient Dan Benway, who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, could be part of his daughter’s wedding. His daughter, Grace Benway, and her fiancé, Thomas Decourcey, had planned to wed in southwest Colorado on October 4, and Dan "did really want to try to make it," but his rapid decline made travel impossible. "This week, he has just been in a decline, and all the nurses were nice enough to help us plan something," Grace told NBC News.
Dan was "diagnosed on Thanksgiving 2023" and has undergone "40 rounds of chemotherapy" plus "whipple surgery" to remove tumors. Until "April" of this year, he was still commuting from the Arlington Heights Metra station to his job downtown at Chase Bank. According to the American Cancer Society, survival rates for pancreatic cancer vary widely depending on the stage at diagnosis. For cases where the cancer is found early and still localized to the pancreas, the 5-year relative survival rate is around 44%. Once the disease has spread to nearby structures or lymph nodes (regional stage), the rate drops to about 16%. When it reaches the distant stage, which includes stage 4 or metastatic cancer, the 5-year survival rate is roughly 3%. Hence, Grace and her family needed to make sure Dan could escort his daughter down the aisle.
Grace and Thomas, who met at work and now live in Golden, Colorado, flew into O’Hare at 3 PM on Sept. 17, reached Dan’s room by 4:30 PM, and by 5 PM decided to marry at the hospital the next afternoon. Nurses and doctors secured an "officiant" and a "guitar player," and readied the hospital’s outdoor butterfly garden. Grace hurried to a store for a dress. "It was something we knew was a possibility, and we were just excited to be able to do it," said Grace Decourcey. "It means a lot to him." On Sept. 18, Dan, wearing a light brown suit with a boutonnière and black sunglasses, was wheeled to the garden café area as staff in blue scrubs and white coats gathered alongside family and close friends.
He wanted to physically walk his daughter down the aisle, but the illness had taken a toll, so he rolled beside her in a wheelchair, holding her hand. "I’m a blessed man. I couldn’t be more blessed," he said, thanking everyone who pulled the ceremony together on short notice. The hospital chaplain, Wilson Angumei, officiated his first wedding in 25 years at the facility. "I was saying, ‘OK, do you have a priest or pastor or somebody to come over?’ And the father said, 'How bout you?' 'It would be my honor,' I told him," Angumei recalled.
Grace described her dad as a "fighter." Dan added, "I’m trying my best. I tried my best." After the vows, Dan said, "They’re meant for each other. A very lucky man to have her. Probably the best I could ask for as a father." He also said Thomas will be a "great man" for Grace and that they’re "going to be a great couple." Dan’s brother, John, added, "That look in his face has been there the entire time. He loves it."
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