Hospital Staff Plans Wedding for Cancer Patient’s Daughter After He Was Given Days to Live

Ten staff members at Niagara Falls Hospital brought the nuptials together in less than 24 hours

A hospital in Canada made one terminal patient’s dream to see his daughter get married come true.

One month after Hugh Bromley was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2024, a team of staff members at Niagara Falls Hospital put together a wedding for his daughter Hayley and her partner Alex to get married at the hospital, according to Niagara Health.

The nuptials came together in less than 24 hours, with staff organizing a dress and shoes, flowers, a photographer and an officiant for the occasion and even chipped in to cover costs.

“I couldn’t believe how much everyone cared,” Hayley told Niagara Health. “With everything I was going through, I didn’t have the capacity to (plan) it myself. They thought of everything. All I had to do was show up the next day.”

“When he first got diagnosed, one of the things he always talked about was walking me down the aisle. I wanted to get the process moving, but thought I’d have a year to do it,” she added.

Related: Man with Terminal Diagnosis Gets Married in the Hospital. Weeks Later It Was Time to Say Goodbye (Exclusive)

Though Hugh was unable to walk and fulfill the pair’s wish of him walking her down the aisle, he did watch his daughter tie the knot and he and Hayley were able to share a father-daughter wedding dance.

“It was meant to be just for him,” Hayley said. “It was just for my dad.”

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According to Niagara Health, he was diagnosed after suffering from chronic back and stomach pain and ending up in the Niagara Falls Emergency Department.

A mass on his pancreas was discovered during a CT scan and doctors predicted that he could live up to a year. Hugh then began undergoing chemotherapy — while not curative, could prolong his life — but he didn’t respond well to his first treatment and he was back in the emergency department weeks later experiencing “stroke-like symptoms and wasn’t eating or communicating.”

“Staff discovered he had internal bleeding and Hugh was declared palliative with just days to live. He would be moved to a bed at Hospice Niagara as soon as possible,” per Niagara Health.

Related: Bride Escorted Down the Aisle by her Oncology Doctors After Beating Cancer: ‘Hands of Fate That Saved Me’

It was then Hayley “immediately asked” triage nurse Eleanora Cook for assistance in pulling off a hospital-room wedding. Cook turned to former ED charge nurse-turned-wedding planner Lorie Heafey for help.

“Everyone knew someone who could help with something,” Heafey told Niagara Health.

“I’ve worked at this site many years and I know in the past we’ve done a lot of cool things. We have families of our own and take pleasure in what we do, and helping patients and making things better in patients’ lives, it’s one small thing we can do.”’

“In about four hours, we were able to get all of this together,” clinical manager Jen Law, who secured the flowers and photographer added. “It was just so meaningful to see the family unite around a tragedy and to be able to support the family going through this.”

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Others involved in helping plan the special day included social worker Andrea DiToro, registered practical nurse Evelyn Belchior, ED clinical manager Karen Paschert, surgical manager Matthew Baronaitis, infection control practitioner Branden Da Silva and personal support worker Miguel Romero, who knew the Bromleys personally.

Romero’s son Andrew ended up officiating the nuptials after deciding to become an ordained minister online a few years earlier when he was just 15. The wedding was the first he officiated, per Niagara Health.

Over the summer, the team of ten was awarded the extraordinary interdepartmental collaboration award at Niagara Health’s annual Awards of Excellence.

“It was a sad day but it was also happy. It’s hard to articulate,” Hayley, who will plan a reception in the future, said as she reflected on her wedding. “My dad got to see me in a dress and we had our dance. Everyone was so helpful and nice. If they hadn’t done what they did, that day wouldn’t have happened. You could see how much they cared.”

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