Melissa Dohme was all smiles on her wedding day as she married the man who kept her alive after she was stabbed and left for dead by her ex-boyfriend, but regaining her happy grin was a massive undertaking.

Cameron Hill created international headlines when he proposed to Dohme in May 2015 as she prepared to toss the first pitch in a baseball game in Florida, in the US.

In early 2012 Hill, an emergency medical first responder, was sent to Dohme's aid after ex-boyfriend Robert Lee Burton Jr stabbed her 32 times in the face, neck, hands and arms.

Melissa Dohme had reconstructive surgery on her face for her wedding day, as the attack left her with nerve damage that stopped her being able to smile.

In an account of the attack on CBS News, Dohme said she had been lying on the road outside her home and hemorrhaging severely from cut arteries in her neck when emergency crew arrived.

READ MORE: First responder to marry victim he saved

"I was airlifted to the hospital where I flat-lined four times, received 12 units of blood, suffered a stroke in my cerebellum, had a fractured skull, nose, and jaw with missing teeth, facial paralysis, stabbed larynx, and was severely beaten," Dohme said.

Cameron Hill proposed to Melissa Dohme at a baseball game in their hometown.

"It's a miracle I am still alive today - even the doctors say so."

She came awfully close to death but made a remarkable recovery. Ten months later when she was talking about her ordeal, Hill was among those in the listening group.

He invited her to the firehouse for dinner with the rest of the crew.

"I was extremely giddy because I was having dinner with all the men who saved my life," Dohme told Fox 13.

"The more I learned about Cameron, the more I realised that we have so much in common. And this feeling that I was feeling was not just because he was someone who had saved me," Dohme said. "I really had feelings for this man."

He stayed by her side through surgeries and speech and physical therapy appointments. He held her hand in court when the man who attacked her was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The couple tie the knot.

One of the wounds to Dohme's face had left her with a damaged facial nerve, giving her a lopsided smile.

She was determined to get her smile back before the wedding day, Dohme told Inside Edition.

In 2015, Dr Tessa Hadlock at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, performed the groundbreaking, intricate eight-hour surgery to restore Dohme's smile.

Melissa Dohme in hospital after being stabbed and left for dead by her ex-boyfriend.

She took muscles from Dohme's inner thigh and transplanted them to her face starting at the corner of her mouth.

It took a year-and-a-half for the implanted muscle and nerves to re-generate in Dohme's face, but it was a success, Inside Edition reported.

When she arrived in a horse drawn carriage for her wedding in Florida on March 4, the bride was beaming.