Bone Cancer Teen Marries High School Sweetheart On Hospital Bed
When Swift Myers and Abbi Ruicker, wedded on Sunday, it was from the bed at an Oklahoma hospital where Swift Myers, 18, has spent the last month battling
cancer.
Since seventh grade Myers has battled Ewing sarcoma, a cancerous tumor that occurs in bones or soft tissues, according to the NIH. His latest bout with the disease landed him in an intensive care unit at Saint Frances Children’s Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the last month.
Two days before their wedding day, young Myers asked Abbi, his girlfriend, who is also 18, to marry him.
"He said, ‘Will you be my wife?,' and we’ve always joked about so I just kind of laughed," Abbi told ABC News today. "The next day he said, 'You know I was being serious right?.'"
Abbi told Myers that if he was serious he needed to call her dad to ask for her hand in marriage. Myers picked up the phone and called Abbi's dad and the wedding planning began immediately. Wow!
"Some of the nurses were in the room and as soon as they heard the conversation they took off," Abbi said. "They did everything."
The nursing staff at Saint Francis Children’s Hospital acted as the couple's wedding planners, gathering decorations and finding a wedding cake, a video-grapher and a photographer.
"It felt like I was hearing a love story straight out of a movie," Meagan Ready, the couple's wedding photographer, told ABC News of being asked to help. "I was humbled to have been asked to document such a special occasion."
On Sunday night, around 100 of the couple's friends and family, and the nurses and doctors caring for Myers, packed into a room at the hospital to watch the couple exchange marital vows.
A teacher at the high school where the Myers met bought the couple wedding bands from a local jeweler. Myers added a bowtie to his hospital attire and said his "I do" from his hospital bed.
The hospital bed later featured a "Just Married" sign on poster board signed by guests. "I was in shock," Abbi said of the outpouring of love. "I'm still in shock."
After exchanging wedding vows and sealing their marriage with a kiss, the couple hosted a wedding reception complete with cake.
"I’m really grateful for the nurses," Abbi said. "They are still at work and still went through and did all of this in less than two days for us and that really meant a lot."
Myers is continuing treatments for his cancer, with Abbi by his side every minute of the day. "Since the wedding he’s been much better and in better spirits," she said.
LOVE!
