A woman battling stage 4 breast cancer married the love of her life at a Connecticut hospital, then passed away 18 hours later.
Heather Mosher, 31, and David Mosher exchanged vows at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford on December 22. The groom told ABC News that they pushed the wedding up from December 30 after a doctor suggested they wed “sooner rather than later.”
A photo captured by her bridesmaid shows Heather wearing her wedding gown while attached to an oxygen mask and lying in a hospital bed. Friends and family were in attendance for the ceremony.
“It reminds me of someone who is crossing the finish line of a marathon or something,” David described the now-viral image to WFSB.
“Nobody thought she would’ve made it that far. She proved them all wrong and that’s what that photo says to me.”
The couple had met in May 2015 during a swing dance class. David recalled planning to propose Heather on December 23, 2016, but learned that morning she had breast cancer. He decided to go ahead with the proposal anyway.
“Now more than ever, I needed for her to know that she’s not going to do this alone,” he told ABC.
Days later, they learned that Heather was fighting an extremely aggressive form of breast cancer. And the news didn’t any get better in November 2017, as doctors determined the cancer had spread.
“We found out it was in her brain and a couple months later, she was on life support with a breathing tube,” David said.
The day they planned to wed, December 30, ended up being the day Heather was laid to rest. The funeral was held at the same place and time that the Moshers intended to exchange their vows.
The widower recently told People that the wedding was especially emotional for him because he knew he was spending his final moments with her.
“I just bawled through the whole ceremony and, for me, it was such a sad occasion, because I knew I wouldn’t see her again. When someone’s your soulmate, you’re never the same when you lose that part of yourself. There’s a part of me that died when she died,” he told the magazine.
“She made it to her wedding day, which was her biggest goal. Cancer couldn’t take that away from her.”
[Featured Image: David and Heather Mosher/Christina Lee Photography]
