Terminally ill teenager dies three days after marrying childhood sweetheart in hospital ceremony
They were married for two days, 15 hours and 27 minutes
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Your support makes all the difference.A terminally-ill teenager married her childhood sweetheart in a touching hospital bed ceremony - just three days before she died.
Nina Marino, 19, was diagnosed with undifferentiated sarcoma in May 2017 but only began to write her bucket list when doctors discovered the disease had spread to her only lung.
Upon realising that she did not have much time left, the teenager proposed to her best friend of 13 years and boyfriend Joey Williams on August 2 in the ICU of St Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Florida.
While the pair initially planned to tie the knot during an outdoor wedding, a prognosis from Marino’s doctors on September 3 revealed that her condition was too severe to wait.
The pair wed the same day in an emotional hospital ceremony while Marina wore an oxygen mask.
The Children’s Cancer Centre in Tampa, Florida organised the last-minute ceremony, which was made all the more special with an arch and decorations as well as friends and family.
“We called them at 1.30pm and told them we’re going to have to get married that day, and we got married at 5.30pm,” the groom said of the special day. “They printed out a bunch of pictures and decorated the entire room, and they built an arch over her bed for us to get married under.”
“Nina was so happy. I was so happy,” he said.
The couple had known each other since they met at Camp Boggy Creek, an event for sick children, when they were just eight and six.
After realising they lived just 10 minutes from each other, they stayed in contact - but it wasn’t until they took a trip to Disney World in June 2017 that they began a romance.
“We spent the whole day together and then that night as we were driving home we talked and we both agreed that things felt a lot different,” Williams recalled. “We decided that we would give dating a try.
“After that, we never really talked about it but we were both just so happy together. It just worked out. She could understand everything about me - and me about her - because we both had chronic illness.
“It was just really nice not to have to pretend that I wasn't in pain around her.”
Following the touching ceremony, which saw the couple exchange wooden wedding rings made so they could wear them while undergoing MRI or CT scans, Marino’s health continued to deteriorate and she passed away on the morning of September 6.
Before she died, the couple was able to look at their wedding photos together.
“She loved them,” Williams said of his bride, who was buried in her wedding gown. “I’m so happy that we were able to do it. We were married for two days, 15 hours and 27 minutes.”
To honour Marino’s memory, her mother Lesley plans to fulfil the rest of the things remaining on her daughter’s bucket list, including seeing the Broadway plays “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen” and visiting Australia.
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