When Aly Femia's mother, Mary Quinn, went to the doctor to check on a pain she was feeling in her neck, she never could've predicted the diagnosis — incurable lung cancer that had spread to her brain. Aly and her fiancé, Anthony, had been planning on a September 2015 wedding. But when Aly asked the doctor when she should hold the wedding so that her mother could be attend, the answer was "tomorrow."
Mary Quinn and Aly Femia / via Facebook
And so Aly, Anthony, their families, and the Yale New Haven Hospital staff instantly got to work, planning a wedding in 24 hours so that Mary could be there to see her daughter get married. One of the doctors took Aly dress shopping, the couple secured their marriage license, the staff bought Aly a bracelet for her "something new," a social worker gave Aly her grandmother's handkerchief to be her "something old," and Aly wore her mother's pearl necklace. The hospital donated food, flowers, and a wedding cake, and the hospital chaplain performed the ceremony right in Mary's hospital room.
Photo via BuzzFeed
Aly's stepfather walked her down the aisle. Sixteen years ago, Aly also lost her father to lung cancer. "Maybe that's why it was even more important to me to have one of my parents at the wedding," she told BuzzFeed.
Photo via BuzzFeed
Photo via BuzzFeed
Photo courtesy of Aly Femia via Facebook
The wedding took place on January 29, and Mary lost her battle with cancer on February 3. "I'm so glad that she was there to watch me say 'I do' and see me marry my best friend," Aly told BuzzFeed. "I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day."
—Kristen Klein
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