Dying Filipino Father ‘Walks’ His Daughter Down The Aisle in a Stretcher
By Ryan General
A dying father in the Philippines “walked” his daughter down the aisle during her wedding day while he was lying on a stretcher.
Pedro Villarin, 65, who was suffering from terminal liver cancer, was able to fulfill his last wish to escort his daughter Charlotte Villarin and ceremonially hand her over to groom Mark Cordova on Aug. 9.
To ensure his presence on his daughter’s big day, the wedding date was moved two months earlier as Villarin’s health worsened, reports Rappler.
Villarin has been bedridden for almost a year due to his condition. Aided by a private nurse, he was brought to the ceremony in Las Piñas via an ambulance.
While it was earlier planned that he would be placed in a wheelchair, Villarin was too weak to do so. It was then decided that he would be brought out in an ambulance stretcher instead.
The dying father can be seen holding onto his daughter’s hand at the altar during the ceremony.
“This was really an emotional moment,” the bride was quoted as saying. “My father’s one wish was to see his daughter married and we made it come true for him.”
“It made the day very bittersweet. It hurt me knowing that he would be leaving us but I was happy that he was there. I am happy he could see me get married.“
Villarin passed away three days after the ceremony on Aug. 12.
“That wedding was really for him because he wanted to walk with me to the altar and witness my wedding since, according to him, I was his favorite daughter,” Charlotte would later say.
The bride revealed that she was worried that her father would not make it to the wedding after he was rushed to a hospital due to extreme pain.
“We were going back and forth in the hospital beforehand,” she noted.
“We hired an ambulance and a private nurse. We thought he would be able to sit on a wheelchair, but he couldn’t take it and used the stretcher from the ambulance instead. But he really sacrificed because he felt pain in that moment. And we thank God for allowing that to happen.”
Charlotte recently shared a photograph of her kissing her father on the cheek during the wedding on social media with the caption, “Papu, I love you so much.”
“It was really painful. But knowing that he left this world, fulfilling his dream, I’m happy already no matter what.”
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