LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Hospital staff quickly turned a room into a chapel to make an Indiana bride’s dream come true.
Alana Morgan’s dad, Greg Hemp, is currently at Baptist Hospital Floyd in New Albany, Indiana, waiting for heart surgery. So, Alana brought the wedding to him.
“I just wanted my dad to be able to be healthy and well and be able to be there,” Alana said. “Because, without having surgery next week, we wouldn’t be able to make it. So we just decided, well, let’s just do it before surgery and he’ll be able to be there and be healthy and walk around and be happy.”
Just a couple of months ago, Hemp started experiencing tightness in the chest and shortness of breath. His doctor ordered a stress test.
“I failed the stress test. They pretty much told me I was going to have to come back to the hospital in the morning and have a procedure. That procedure didn’t work. There was too much damage. So now, I’m waiting on bypass surgery on Tuesday morning,” Hemp said.
The couple share their first kiss as husband and wife after their wedding at Baptist Health Floyd in New Albany, Indiana on Friday, May 19, 2023. The bride wanted her father, who is a patient at the hospital, to be a part of the ceremony. (Photo courtesy by Joey Fulton)
Doctors scheduled Hemp for open-heart surgery, just days before his daughter’s planned wedding day on May 27.
“First of all, this general let down for a wedding we had planned last year being cancelled next week, but then the hospitals have been awesome,” Hemp said. “This means a lot to me and a lot to the whole family, just a great experience.”
In fact, it was a memorable day for the staff at the hospital, too.
“It’s just a blessing to be involved in Andy and Alana’s day, and to make her wish come true that Alana’s dad could be at her wedding,” Bentfield said.
Karen Bentfield is the hospital’s open heart unit nurse manager. She just learned of the wedding Thursday afternoon, and with the help of other nurses and hospital staff, they were able to have the wedding without a hitch.
“It’s very touching. We get close to our patients here, and to make something happen for them definitely feeds our nurse soul, makes us feel good, like we’re making a difference in their life,” Bentfield said.
Andy and Alana Morgan with their daughter after their wedding on May 19, 2023 at Baptist Health Floyd in New Albany, Indiana. (Photo courtesy of Joey Fulton)
The groom, Andy Morgan, wouldn’t have had the wedding any other way.
“It means the world actually. It isn’t what we expected, obviously, but it turned out to be better if you ask us,” Andy said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to do without him. I mean, he’s one of the main important parts of this whole thing. So I was along with the decision and it was what was best.”
A daughter, sacrificing her big Indiana wedding, for a precious memory with her Dad.
“It means the world. That’s something that really mattered to me, and once I figured out that he wasn’t going to be able to be there, I knew this was the right thing to do,” Alana said.
Alana and Andy met at church four years ago. They plan to go on a cruise to the Bahamas for their honeymoon.
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