Honoring his last request

Mike Mosley knew his time was running out. He had been a patient in the eighth-floor Neuro ICU for nearly a week and wasn’t getting any better. The cancer was advancing.

Hooked to a ventilator and unable to talk, Mike reached for a notebook and pencil. He pointed to his girlfriend Dona Thompson and wrote, “Wife … You … Marry … Today?”

Of course, she said yes.

When Mike’s nurses heard the news, they sprang into action. Within a few hours, they rounded up a donated wedding cake from Publix, balloons, a bridal bouquet, a preacher, three groomsmen and a celebratory bottle of sparkling grape juice. Nicole Stinson, RN, even bought a ring for the ceremony from the hospital gift shop.

The wedding took place around Mike’s hospital bed on May 30.

Because of the ventilator, Mike could only nod when it came time to repeat his vows. He was so weak that best man Kerry Wagner had to slip the ring on Dona’s finger. But he looked content.

He died less than 24 hours later.

Dona returned to the hospital a few days after the wedding with a fruit basket to thank the Neuro ICU staff for their remarkable compassion.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of people to be there at the end of Mike's life,” she said.

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