Being married a few steps from the intensive care unit at Pennsylvania's Good Samaritan Hospital wasn't how Heather Miller and Brian Neff planned their wedding day, but they were grateful for every moment there.
Miller, 37, has been undergoing treatment for bone cancer at the hospital.
'I didn't think this would ever happen,' Miller told reporters one day before Friday's ceremony. 'I get to marry the man of my dreams.'
Hospital and Good Samaritan staff told the couple they could hold the wedding in the hospital.
As Miller's condition worsened, friends, family, and hospital staff put the wedding together in just a matter of days.
The couple had originally planned to be wed on Aug. 16 before Miller was diagnosed.
Her father, John, pushed her hospital bed down a hallway to the hospital conference room where the ceremony took place to the sound of George Strait's 'I Cross My Heart.'
She passed more than two dozen friends and well-wishers lining the hallway.
The ceremony was performed by Lloyd Deitzler, a cousin of Heather's mother Rene Miller and member of the the Open Door Mission Church in East Petersburg.
'The whole staff has been absolutely wonderful,' Heather said.
The couple has been together for five years.
Neff was going through a divorce when the two met. She helped him through the rough times, and the two became the best of friends.
Miller said Neff, her father, and her mother, gave her the strength to battle cancer.
In the seven years William Mulligan has served as vice president of strategic planning and marketing at Good Samaritan he told the Lebanon Daily News he could not recall a single other wedding in the hospital.
'It's an unusual circumstance,' he said. 'We're so glad we're able to come together and help the family.'
MIller's wedding dress was provided by Enchanted Evening in North Cornwall Township while Leitzel's Jewelry in Myerstown donated wedding bands. Central PA Tuxedo in Lancaster provided tuxedos.
Miller's journey to the hospital began ten weeks ago when she woke up with 'the worst pain' she'd ever felt in her lower back. She believed she'd pulled a muscle at first.
However an MRI revealed a mass in her back doctors identified as an aggressive form of incurable bone cancer.
By that time, the pain was so horrible Miller could not keep from screaming.
'It hurt that bad,' she said.
Miller told reporters that the hospital staff and local businesses who donated their time and efforts to the ceremony had her eternal gratitude.
'They made my dream come true,' she said.
This is wonderful
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