This Columbus cancer patient had a wedding on his bucket list. Piedmont made it happen
Newlyweds Alexander and Heather Ramirez Santos are all smiles when they enter their wedding reception.
Their 2-year-old son wriggles out of a trusted family member’s arm and runs straight into his mother’s arms.
“Go to mommy, not to me, huh?” Alexander quips.
Noah’s only response is to squeal in the way happy toddlers do.
“What did you get into?,” the father asks as the child hugs Heather. Everyone else attending the wedding laughs.
For a moment, this wedding is like any other as the newly married couple embraces their child, except for the sign directly behind them that identifies the venue as the John B. Amos Cancer Inpatient Unit.
Alexander, 25, received a terminal cancer diagnosis and wanted to marry Heather, 23, before he died.
“I need to get right with the Lord, and do things the right way, before I leave,” he told the staff.
Staff at the Piedmont Columbus Regional Midtown Campus came together within a few days of learning about the couple’s wish to throw them a wedding in the hospital.
A love story and a diagnosis
Alexander and Heather met while attending Jordan High School in Columbus. She was born and raised in Muscogee County. Alexander moved to the city from Colorado seven years ago with his mother, stepdad and sister.
The two became acquainted in school, where they found time to talk in the hallways and get to know one another. Although they grew close, Alexander and Heather didn’t become official until after graduating high school.
Both chose to live and work in Columbus. Alexander went to work for the cable company WOW, while Heather worked at O’Charley’s Restaurant & Bar.
Noah was born on Thanksgiving in 2020.
On November 23, 2022, the day before Thanksgiving, Alexander was officially diagnosed with a nonseminomatous germ cell tumor.
He had testicular cancer.
Heather was at work when Alexander called to warn her that the doctors suspected he might have cancer before the diagnosis was official.
She collapsed into a coworker’s arms.
From that moment on, Alexander has been in and out of the hospital as he underwent chemotherapy treatments and had a stem cell transplant.
He was unable to continue working because of the disease, and their finances became strained as Heather became a caregiver to Alexander while also taking care of Noah. The family started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $6,000 to help pay their bills.
The treatments weren’t working.
The cancer spread to his brain.
Alexander and Heather wanted to marry because they are not sure if his life will last days, months or years longer.
“(We have) an unbreakable bond,” he said. “And I just couldn’t live without her.”
A matter of days
When Alexander and Heather realized they were unsure of what the outcome of his illness would be, they brought the idea of getting married in the hospital to one of Piedmont’s patient experience representatives last Saturday.
They wanted to know if it was at all possible, Alexander said, and weren’t thinking so much about the details. The couple spoke with a representative again on Monday when they decided to pursue getting married as soon as possible.
“The patient experience representative came to me and told me that he ‘wanted to be right with God’,” said Ngozi Onukwue, the oncology clinical manager.
After that conversation, everything became a whirlwind as the hospital staff began working together to make it happen.
It was a group effort to make the arrangements. The staff collected donations, arranged to get a minister that could perform the ceremony and decorated the hallway and Alexander’s room. They reached out to a local Publix that donated a wedding cake.
Piedmont’s staff helped ensure Heather had a bridal gown, and refreshments were available for the reception.
“When we hear about these things, we just try our best to carry it out,” said Dee Bryant, manager of patient experience at Piedmont Columbus Regional.
Associate Judge David A. Siegal visited the hospital to sign off on the marriage license the morning of the wedding.
The bride and groom’s family were contacted to ensure they would be able to attend, with some of Alexander’s family flying in from Colorado. Jana Duke, Heather’s mother, found out about the wedding the day before the event.
As unexpected as the news was, Duke was excited to hear her daughter and Alexander would be getting married. She had been hoping for this day for a long time as she watched Heather do all that she could to support him through his illness.
“I love Alex,” Duke said. “He’s my son, and I just embrace them as a couple. And of course they’ve got my baby (Noah) over there.”
Introducing Mr. and Mrs…
By Monday, they made the decision to just do it and get married.
On Wednesday afternoon Noah was dressed up and abandoning his sippy cup to play with the colorful balloons that decorated the hall where his father’s hospital room was located.
Piedmont’s staff were beginning to congregate on Alexander’s floor, their happiness for the couple clear. A reception area was decorated prominently featuring the colors teal and white on the tablecloths and curtains.
A two-tiered, wedding cake sat on a second table under the John B. Amos Cancer Inpatient Unit sign. Floral arrangements with pale pink and white flowers were placed strategically throughout the space.
Alexander’s room was similarly decorated with balloons along with pink and white decorations. At 2:30 p.m., clinical and nonclinical staff lined up on either side of the hallway leading up to Alexander’s room.
Heather, dressed in a white knee-length dress and a floral hairpiece, walked down the aisle to meet Alexander in his room as a staff member played the country song “I Do” by Paul Brandt.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth,” Officiant Pastor Marlon Scott Sr. said to start the ceremony. “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. We’re here today because Love never fails.”
In a hospital room, surrounded by a small party of their closest family members including their young son Noah, Scott married Alexander and Heather.
After the two said their “I do’s”, they walked back into the hall where a line of supportive hospital staff awaited them.
“Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Heather and Alexander (Ramirez) Santos,” Scott announced loudly to the hall, which erupted in cheers as the newlyweds walked back the hallway to receive the well-wishes.
Alexander still has 15 rounds of radiation left, and he’s hopeful that after the treatment is complete his chances for survival will be higher. For now, he is happy to have married Heather.
“I’m not looking forward to a lot of time on the Earth,” Alexander said. “So, (marriage) is just something I’ve always wanted. And especially with the person I love.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
