Till death do us part. This well-known saying is a part of many marriage ceremonies and it is meant to indicate that married couples should never divorce despite sickness or poverty. When we see decade-long marriages we can’t help but feel a slight tingling on the inside.
But sometimes life throws difficult situations your way. This is when a couple’s love for each other gets tested the most. When you succeed together at overcoming something stressful or life-changing, your love is strengthened forever. One couple from Knoxville, Tennessee learned this when they tied the knot under very heartbreaking circumstances.
Prepare some tissues before you get ready to read more about this touching story.
Ronda Bivens and Matthew Mager have been together for 10 years and have two children together. They have been dating since high school. The pair recently got married by Ronda’s hospital bed.
Ronda was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer approximately 12 months ago. She was told she only had days to live.
28-year-old Ronda was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma on her ankle which then forced her to get her leg amputated.
After undergoing chemotherapy, cancer then spread to her lungs. She battled the disease for a year and was just getting used to her prosthetic leg when doctors notified her that she had just days to live.
The pair of high school sweethearts has always hoped for a big wedding. The two met in middle school but didn’t start dating until they graduated high school.
Since then, the couple has had two children aged four and six. In an interview, Matt said that the goal was to “give her [his] last name before she passes.” It was really emotional.
In the heartwarming video, you can see Ronda lying in her hospital bed in her wedding dress as the couple exchanges wedding vows.
Matt said: “I told her from day one when we first found out she had cancer that ‘I know we always talked about having a big wedding.’ I said ‘if anything happens, we will get married somehow, some way.”
Over the past few days, the couple has been staring at their wedding photos and re-watching the emotional video of their wedding ceremony.
Matt says: “I joke with her and say, ‘You’re not going anywhere now. We are hitched.’ I spend most days just holding her hand and talking to her because I may not be able to talk to her tomorrow.”
The family is now praying for a miracle. Despite her struggles, Ronda remains upbeat and positive and even documents her progress and struggles on Facebook.
“I’ve seen better days, but I’ve also seen worse. I don’t have everything that I want, but I do have all I need. I woke up with some aches and pains, but I woke up. My life may not be perfect, but I am blessed,” Ronda wrote on her Facebook earlier this month.
