Carlos Muniz and Grace Leimann were scheduled to get married in mid-July when their solemn plans were halted after Muniz became ill with the virus, according to hospital staff.
As soon as nurse Matt Holdridge learned about his patient’s canceled wedding ceremony, the idea immediately came to him in the hospital. Since tenderness to a patient’s emotional needs often helps with physical recovery, the nurse said he knew he needed to hold a wedding to fight his struggling patient.
“The ball just rolls off. A lot of people started volunteering for it. Before you knew it, every nurse in the unit knew about it and tried to find ways to make it more special,” Holdridge said.
In the days after Muniz learned that his marriage plans were being restored, his condition also began.
“We could remove his feeding tube and he could eat and drink on his own … everything about his whole picture got better and better,” Holdridge said.
To prepare for the big day, Holdridge bought matching tuxedo t-shirts for himself and the groom, and told the patient that he would be his best man. Muniz agreed.
On Tuesday, August 11, the happy couple were joined together at the wedding at a socially distant wedding by immediate family and the hospital workers who helped care for Muniz last month. Sweet wedding instruments played while nurses drove the grinning groom down a hallway into his hospital bed to wait for his beautiful bride.
“I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room, seeing everything he went through and everything he went through to get to this point,” Holdridge said. “It was a pretty magical event.”
At the end of the ceremony, the bride thanked her families for their support and the hospital workers for their commitment to their patients.
“I know you have a difficult job. But just know that you are appreciated by a lot of people,” she said.
Holdridge says the marriage meant a lot to hospital staff, who also had challenging times during the ongoing pandemic.
“We needed that just like they did,” he said. “It was a great motivating booster for our staff just to continue to fight for our patients and our community here.”
Muniz is continuing to improve, Holdridge said. A day after the wedding, he was able to move from his bed to a chair for the first time. As of Friday morning, Muniz was taken off the ECMO machine.
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