Father who survived cancer gets out of wheelchair and walks daughter down the aisle in viral video
A wheelchair-bound father surprises his daughter on her wedding day by walking her down the aisle. See how the father’s plan came to life in a heartwarming video of that special moment.
This story of a father struggling to walk to give his daughter her dream wedding will surely tug at your heart.
Ralph Duquette has been on a wheelchair since surviving a bout with leukemia. However, he made it his mission to find the strength to walk so he could escort his daughter on her wedding day.
It seemed like an impossible task for Ralph to get on his feet again which is why his daughter never expected him to do so on the day of her wedding. In fact, they already discussed this and agreed that her father wouldn’t be walking her down the aisle. She had no idea Ralph had planned the surprise all along and had been attending intense therapy for several months in preparation for her big day.
On the day of the ceremony in Old Orchard Beach in Maine, Ralph instructed the DJ to purposely play the wrong song to give him time to get out of his wheelchair and get to the door to meet his daughter. And when he finally did, his daughter, in her own words, “was blown away.”
"I was blown away and completely speechless. All I could do was cry and hope and pray we made it safely."
The touching video of the father struggling to walk his daughter down the aisle is guaranteed to make anyone cry. At one point, he stumbles, but his daughter prevents him from falling.
Ralph told ABC that the moment his daughter grabbed his hand, he felt safe.
“When she grabbed my hand I sort of felt safe and walked down. It was so amazing, she was so happy. It was something that every father dreams of.”
Likewise, Heather gushed about the moment and deemed it the biggest day and surprise of her life.
Meanwhile, another bride drew attention to her wedding day when she surprised her father by getting married in the hospital where he was confined. All Vieneese Rolan really wanted was for her father Preston Rolan to be part of her wedding after learning he was dying. So she moved up her wedding day and even planned to hold it at the hospital so her father could still walk her down the aisle. The lovely wedding attended by friends and family and even hospital staff became even more special when Preston teared up upon discovering the surprise and seeing his daughter in her wedding gown.
It was such a memorable day that it prompted Vieneese to create an organization in memory of her father who died less than a month after her wedding. The organization is devoted to providing lasting memories for terminally ill patients, much like she did for her father on her wedding day.