A wish come true

As a chaplain on NICU [Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit], I have had the privilege of entering into family situations at times of trauma and crisis. These are emotional and stressful times. You can imagine my surprise when the daughter of a patient on NICU asked if it was possible to arrange her wedding in the hospital chapel so that her father, who was a patient on NICU, could walk her down the aisle! That was her one wish—she was to be married in a week, but her father was unable to attend because he was seriously ill. While having the wedding at Yale-New Haven Hospital was not what she had planned, she felt comfortable because her father had been a patient at YNHH many times before.

I was a little cautious of her initial request, but as I talked with her, I could see how important it was to her. She and her father had planned the wedding for over a year and one of the most important parts of that planning was having her father walk her down the aisle. Also, the staff on NICU was becoming excited about the prospect of a wedding. I could see that it was bringing a sense of renewed energy to the staff. They, too, deal with emotional, stressful times. Being able to plan for something that was exciting and joyful appealed to the staff as well as the bride-to-be.

	Bride Kathleen Faulkner pins a corsage on the tuxedo of her father Joseph A. Dwyer prior to the wedding ceremony in the hospital chapel.

On a Friday in May, the bride, the groom, their parents and her entire wedding party in all their finery, assembled in the chapel. The father of the bride was brought to the chapel escorted by a physical therapist and two nurses from NICU. With the help of the therapist and nurses he was able to stand and walk slowly down the aisle with his daughter. There was not a dry eye in the Chapel. As word spread throughout the hospital about the wedding, many Yale-New Haven staff came to see the festivities. Everyone seemed to be touched by the joy of the wedding.

After the ceremony, the bride and groom went up to NICU and 6-3 to visit the staff. On NICU, the bride threw her bouquet and one of the nurses who had attended the wedding caught the bouquet!!

When I think back to that occasion, a smile comes to my lips as I remember the joy that pervaded the hospital that day. For a few hours in time, a serious situation was made lighter by the wish of a daughter who wanted her father to walk her down the aisle.

Chaplain Marilyn McNally
Religious Ministries