Advertisement

Dying father walks all his children down the aisle in one day

(Facebook/Tammy McHugh)

Ken McHugh is a father of four, and in 2010 he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer.

Things have taken a turn for the worse for the Chester Springs, Pennsylvania resident, and McHugh has been thinking about all the important moments in his children’s lives he will miss, reports BuzzFeed.

“Weddings were a major thing that brought us much sadness when we thought about him not joining us,” said Tammy McHugh, Ken’s wife.

Local charily Team CMMD decided to grant Ken’s wish of being able to walk all his kids down the aisle, and on October 3 threw the McHughs a “family wedding.”

There was a stretch limo, the requisite gowns and tuxedos (though no white dresses) and an Italian wedding dinner with all the trimmings.

And of course, Ken got the chance to walk each of his children down the aisle. Though he’d been in a weakened state, Ken managed to complete the whole ceremony without a cane or a walker.

He handed each of his children an envelope containing a letter to be read on their actual wedding day, along with a handkerchief embroidered in blue to be the “something blue” on their special day.

Tammy said she was concerned it would be a sad event, but in the end it was filled with joy.

“We were happy and in the moment,” Tammy told BuzzFeed. “There was so much laughter and love. It was a day of love.”

It’s been five years since Ken could work, so he’s set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his children’s education.

On that page, Ken has expressed his profound gratitude for the wedding, but also for the outpouring of media attention and public support that has been flooding the family ever since news of their special wedding became public.

But as grateful as he is, Ken also shared feelings of deep darkness and despair, and found himself questioning why these feelings plagued him. Then he offered a hypothesis:

“I know what it is. These great things that have happened- the idea of a wedding, a graduation, a grandchild or any of the children’s achievements are such happy things that will happen in the future. I got a little taste what that might feel like as we celebrated last week. This has made me want to be around long enough to experience them even more. How can I possibly go now? Can’t I please just have more time?!?! Just a little more time, please, dear God.”

In the end, he concludes, “I thought I was prepared to die. I still am, but really don’t want to.”

With a family life as rich as his, it’s easy to see why.