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Dad dies days after giving daughter away at hospital wedding
Published September 06, 2016
It took just 24 hours for a Georgia hospital to plan a bedside wedding for the daughter of a patient, so the ill man could give his girl away on August 31.
Steve Hammonds died on Sunday after the last-minute ceremony, which was moved up from its original October 1date, Fox30 reported.
On August 30, doctors told Candice Hammonds that her father only had a few days left, Fox30 reported. Steve’s diagnosis was not disclosed.
Staff at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Georgia, provided the family with a room in the outpatient surgery area and ICU nurses cleared Steve’s room, covering his ventilator with sheets to make the room suitable for the celebration. Steve’s doctor suspended his sedation so he could be alert and the father raised his hand when asked by the pastor who was giving Candice away.
"It was the last gift he could give his little girl," Teresa Hammonds, Steve’s wife, told Fox 30.
Family friend and photographer Julie York Schandolph captured the ceremony.
"I don't think I have ever experienced so much love and emotion in one room," Schandolph told Fox 30. "The way that this family came together in such short time for this beside wedding amazed me."
https://www.foxnews.com/health/dad-dies-days-after-giving-daughter-away-at-hospital-wedding