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ALBANY, New York — It was the picture perfect wedding — white dress, tuxedo, rose petals lining the aisle.
A nurse at a children's hospital in New York made a 4-year-old leukemia patient's dreams come true when he "married" her in a sweet ceremony in front of her family and hospital staff, Yahoo News reports.
Abby the "bride" was diagnosed with leukemia last fall and comes to Albany Medical Center every few weeks for chemotherapy treatment, according to Yahoo. Over the course of her time there, she fell fast and hard for her favorite nurse: Matt Hickling.
Hickling began to notice that Abby would always be on the lookout for him when she'd come to the hospital. The two formed a strong bond — so much so that when Abby's family member began planning a wedding, she told her mom Renee that she was going to ask Hickling to marry her.
When Renee told Hickling, he immediately responded that he and the rest of the hospital staff were going to start planning a wedding, according to CBS News.
"I thought it would be fun to make it happen," Hickling told Yahoo. He said his real-life wife of a year and a half was the one who pushed him to fulfill the wishes of the much-younger "other woman."
"She was the one who told me all the things we needed to get to make it happen, like flowers," he said.
So in just 24 hours, plans were made, organized and completed just in time for Abby and Hickling's big day. A local florist donated flowers, bridesmaids were chosen, a wedding cake was baked and decorated and a special toy car with a "Just Married" sign was parked in the hallway to whisk the newlyweds away, according to CBS.
Our patient shyly asked me to marry her. I didn't hesitate to say yes, I got a huge hug and we sealed the deal with ring pops being placed on our fingers!
–Matt Hicking, "Groom"
Little Abby walked down the rose-petal-lined "aisle" as the couple's supporters hummed the wedding march. Her mother gave her tiny bride away as Hickling sat crouched at the end of the aisle.
"Our patient shyly asked me to marry her," Hickling wrote on his Facebook page. "I didn't hesitate to say yes, I got a huge hug and we sealed the deal with ring pops being placed on our fingers!"
A video of the one-of-a-kind wedding has garnered nearly 730,000 likes on Facebook and has been shared more than 373,000 times.
Abby's mom said she was blown away by the hospital's response to her daughter's request.
"I know the people at the Melodies Center and know their creativity and thoughtfulness, but never expected all of this," she wrote on her Amazing Abby Facebook page. "We are both in awe from today's visit and smiling ear to ear."
