A Love Story No Diagnosis Could Delay

You would have to really trust your coworkers to let them put your wedding together for you … or maybe you’d just have to be ready to marry the one you love without another moment slipping away.

In 2018 Tim Davis was sitting with his father at the Cleveland Clinic in Medina, Ohio. At one point during his visit, one of his dad’s nurses, Christine Dash, came into the room. Tim and Christine really hit it off!

They went on their first official date a couple of weeks later and have been inseparable ever since.

In September, Tim started dealing with some health issues of his own. One morning on the way to work, he collapsed and was taken to the hospital where he received a shocking diagnosis - he had kidney cancer and bilateral pulmonary embolism in his lungs.

Tim and Christine knew they wanted to be together forever, in sickness and in health, and they chose January 23 as their wedding date with a plan to marry at the courthouse. Unfortunately, Tim landed back in the ER on the day they’d planned to get married.

He was in the same hospital where they’d first met (and where Christine still works!) and jokingly told one of the other nurses that his fiancée was going to be upset, thinking he’d gone to the emergency room to get out of the wedding. 

Christine is a beloved friend and her coworkers didn’t want her to have to put off her big day, so they came up with a plan to host a wedding that day, right in the ER!

Donations of cake, flowers, and sparkling juice were made. A unit clerk came in on her day off to be the photographer, and the foot of Tim’s hospital bed was decorated with a “Just Married” sign and a string of ginger ale cans.

Another nurse, Tim Phillips, happens to be an ordained minister so he performed the ceremony.

The grinning couple was surrounded by people who love and care about them, as they married in the very same hospital where they’d first met. Christine's coworkers didn't have to do this, it's not a requirement of colleagues or healthcare workers, but they are clearly folks with big hearts who wanted to do something special for someone having a hard day. To me, that kind of love and support is better than any fancy wedding with matching outfits and tasty catering! 

Tim is receiving immunotherapy and his health has been improving, though when he’s well enough he will need surgery to remove the cancerous kidney. 

About the unexpected hospital wedding he said, "It was happy. I got to marry a wonderful woman and now we're together as long as our ride lasts.”