18 hours ago
Why This Father-Daughter Wedding Tradition Endures
On her wedding day, Vieneese Stanton didn't glide through the sanctuary of a stately church or down a flower-lined aisle. She stood at the end of a hospital hallway in the cancer wing of the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, beaming in a gauzy white gown, ready to surprise her terminally ill father with the chance to walk her down the aisle to her groom.
In February 2017, Ms. Stanton's father, Preston Rolan, was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that overproduces abnormal white cells in the bone marrow. Ms. Stanton, 35, who lives in Richmond, Calif., had hoped he would attend her wedding the following April, but then a deadly infection metastasized in Mr. Rolan's lung. 'We didn't know if he'd make it,' said Ms. Stanton, an administrator at San Domenico School in San Anselmo, Calif. 'But I couldn't imagine that day without him.'
The couple moved their wedding to a city hall ceremony in November 2018, with a quick hospital visit planned so Mr. Rolan could see his daughter in her gown.
But the hospital staff had bigger plans. They transformed Mr. Rolan's daily stroll around the hospital into a surprise walk down the aisle. On Nov. 16, 2018, when Mr. Rolan turned the corner during his walk, 'I was standing there in my dress. He was like, 'Oh my God, what's going on?!'' Ms. Stanton recalls. 'He thought I was headed to Vegas or something. He had no clue we were doing it right there.'
That touching walk together, which Ms. Stanton said lasted less than a minute, was one that she will cherish.
'I'm just grateful I could have that moment with him. He passed away just three weeks later, but he got to see the wedding,' Ms. Stanton said. 'He was so happy.'
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