Kindness Starts With One®

Nurses Playing Cards of Love

In December we found out that Mom’s cancer had progressed to the point that doctors started talking in terms of months for her to live. Our daughter was scheduled to be married in 2020, but with this crushing news, we worked hard against the ever-ticking clock of cancer to be sure her Mom-Mom would be in attendance on her big day. The date was moved to May 5, 2019, and Mom was part of every plan. She was feeling well enough and the excitement of the wedding kept her focus hopeful and happy. Then, three days before the wedding, everything changed. Mom became very ill and was admitted to the hospital in very bad health. I was completely devastated that the wedding would have to go on without her. We had raced the clock and lost. I asked the nurses if it would be possible, right after the ceremony, for us to come and surprise mom with a mock ceremony in her room. My plan was just my daughter and her new husband, my husband and I, and our pastor. But, these AMAZING nurses weren’t having any of that! They wanted a wedding! They wanted the entire bridal party to come and an entire wedding to take place. My mother’s best friend sat with her during the official ceremony and watched with her via FaceTime. All the while, the nurses hatched a secret plan! They decorated, got a cake, set up a “chapel of love” in the ICU and my mother had no clue! We arrived and the entire floor was all abuzz!! Here we all are in our wedding attire with Mom still not knowing what was about to happen. What followed was one of the most beautiful, touching moments I know I’ll ever experience. We had a wedding in an ICU room. The nurses had all of the machinery hidden, a beautiful cake hidden, and they lined the halls crying. Oh, these nurses played cards, alright! Cards of love, compassion, thoughtfulness, and the heart of God. I have questioned God's timing through all of this, having faith He would reveal to me His plan. Wow!! Yesterday could have been an ordinary wedding where a beautiful bride and handsome groom were celebrated in a very normal way. But God! He was magnified, He was glorified and through His timing, more love was witnessed and shared than I’ve ever experienced. None of this is in any of these women’s job descriptions; I’m positive wedding planning isn’t part of nursing school, but the love they showed my mother and my family will never be forgotten. I pray this goes viral and that the entire world sees what love I felt yesterday in that little ICU room. Words can’t begin to express my grateful heart. You all will forever be family. Thank you from the very bottom of a heart you took from shattered to whole in one huge act of kindness.