GULFPORT, Miss. — A Mississippi man knew he was dying of COVID-19. But he was determined to marry his sweetheart of 17 years, and he got his wish four days before his death.
Jeff Nabors, 62, of Gulfport, tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 11, WLOX reported. Even though he recovered, doctors said he had stage four chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, damaging his lungs, the television station reported.
“I think he was on borrowed time already,” Nabors’ wife, Sherry Nabors, 53, told WLOX on Tuesday, nearly a month after her wedding.
The couple met in Houston when Jeff Nabors rescued Sherry from a broken garage door. They shared the same birthday, and although she believed it was “a bad pickup line,” Sherry took Jeff to dinner.
They became friends and the relationship blossomed. They spent the next few years in a long-distance relationship when Sherry Nabors moved to Atlanta to care for her mother, but the couple reunited in Gulfport.
They became engaged in December and discussed wedding dates until Jeff Nabors came down with COVID-19, WLOX reported.
They pressed forward, however, substituting a hospital room in Gulfport for a small chapel wedding in February.
“It wasn’t what we had in mind,” Sherry Nabors told WLOX. “It wasn’t ideal, but at that moment it was. It was very special.”
Hospital chaplain Martin Gilliland suggested the bedside wedding, and it was held at 7 a.m.
“Everybody was there,” Gilliland told WLOX. “What’s amazing about this hospital, and what’s so beautiful about the people that work here is the night shift stayed. The nurses, respiratory therapists, doctors came, the day shift was there. They ordered a Mardi Gras wedding cake, they had a florist come in and bring flowers. The nurses made congratulations signs.”
One of the nurses fashioned a wedding band for Jeff out of a medical bandage.
“And there wasn’t a dry eye in the room when we finished,” Gilliland told the television station.
Four days later, Jeff Nabors had trouble breathing and was put on comfort care.
“I was sitting on his bed and I had my head down, crying,” Sherry Nabors told WLOX. “And I heard him say my name, he said it twice. And I popped my head up and I looked at him, and he was looking at me and I said ‘I’m right here, baby, I’m right here.’ I said ‘I’m not going anywhere.’ and he closed his eyes. He shook his head and closed his eyes. And he didn’t open his eyes again.”
The couple loved Ireland and had planned to visit there, along with a trip to Niagara Falls.
“When I get his ashes, I’m going to take those trips,” Sherry Nabors told WLOX. “Our journey is over on Earth, but it’s not over. We’re not over.”
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