10-Year-Old Girl Gets ‘Married’ In Bedside Ceremony For Dying Father [Video]
Independence, MO — A 10-year-old girl whose father is dying from a lung disease got “married” in a bedside ceremony in his hospital room Sunday.
Johnny Wells has suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for the last five years. After realizing that he wouldn’t be around to witness his daughter Nakeol’s wedding, his wife thought of the next best thing.
“I came up with the idea to have a little ceremony where she could make promises to be faithful to the man she would marry,” Glenda Wells told KCTV5.
“His baby is the reason he has stayed alive this long,” she added.
Dressed in a gray tuxedo, Johnny Wells watched as Nakeol walked into his hospital room wearing a white dress carrying a white and purple bouquet.
During the bedside ceremony, Nakeol promised her father that she would search for a husband until she finds a “godly man to marry” and that she would save herself until she finds a man who loves her as much as he does. Wells promised that when Nakeol finds the right man, he will give them both his blessing. He then put a ring on Nakeol’s finger as a reminder of the promises she made to him, which she will wear until she replaces it with her wedding band.
“He gave me a ring,” Nakeol said. “It is a diamond ring with two hearts.” Nakeol said when she does get married, she will play the video before her wedding, and that she will give the her “wedding” dress to her flower girl.
In August, a Pennsylvania couple who planned to get married next July moved their wedding so their 2-year-old son could be the best man. Logan Stevenson was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and given two to three weeks to live. His parents, Sean Stevenson and Christine Swidorsky, put together a backyard wedding in a week, with the help of donations from strangers who read their story in the Tribune Review. Swidorsky carried Logan in her arms down the aisle.
“This is our dream come true,” she said. “All our family together and we’re all together celebrating, the celebration of my son’s life and the celebration of our marriage.” Sadly, Logan died two days after the wedding.
