John Como, 79, and his fiancée Diane were on their way to get their marriage certificate notarized on Sept. 5 when John’s doctor called with news that would upend their plans. His bloodwork had come back abnormal, and the physician told him to get to Huntsville Hospital right away.
The couple headed to the emergency room instead of the notary’s office. There, nurse practitioner Beth Gates learned that John’s sudden trip to the ER meant the wedding the couple had been looking forward to was now in jeopardy.
“They were such a sweet couple, it was the least I could do,” Gates said, explaining why she went looking through the hospital for a licensed notary.
She found one in Shoyna Alexander, who works in the hospital’s security office. Alexander left her post to meet the couple and hospital staff in ER exam room C-29, which became the makeshift wedding venue.
John, still in a hospital gown, and Diane, dressed in a white pantsuit with a black-and-white checkered blouse, signed their marriage certificate and exchanged vows. For rings, they wore paper bands made by a fellow ER patient, Samantha Ring, who was watching the ceremony unfold. John leaned forward from his hospital bed to kiss his bride.
The hospital said the moment brought “some smiles back to what had been a scary and unusual day.”
Staff didn’t stop at the ceremony. Licensed nurse Keria Lightfoot bought flowers, cupcakes, plastic champagne flutes and sparkling grape juice so the couple could celebrate despite the IVs and medical equipment around them. ER attendant Nolan Bearden made a “Just Married” sign for the occasion.
“It just warmed our hearts that they would care enough to do that,” John said.
“We were in this terrible situation of having to go to the emergency department, but they made it a golden moment. People need to know that the staff at Huntsville Hospital has a heart.”
John, a retired Army colonel, was admitted to the hospital’s oncology unit following the ceremony and was released on Sept. 23.
Diane is a lifelong acquaintance John began dating after his wife of more than 40 years died about a year earlier. The two are now starting married life together.
