There’s always time: Hospice Care Options prepares wedding for patient

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — 60-year-old Sarah Smith recently became a patient of Hospice Care Options, after suffering a stroke in 2022. She has been in a relationship with her fiancé for 26 years. When her caretakers asked what she would do with her time in hospice, she said it was finally time for her to get married.

Smith and her fiancé have now planned their wedding for April 2.

Hospice Care Options Chaplain Lisa Johnson told The Journal all about it.

“When she came on to our services, one of the things we ask our patients is, ‘is there anything you’d like to accomplish, anything you wish you could change or do?’ because as a team, we want to make that dream come true if possible,” Johnson said. “She very flippantly said, ‘well I guess it’s time for me to get married.”

Smith’s wedding comes after several years of caretaking. While’s she’s been engaged to her fiancé, Thomas Wall, for several years, she’s also been providing care to her brother and sister-in-law. According to Johnson, Smith didn’t feel she could focus on being a wife the way she wanted to, while also being the caregiver for her brother and sister-in-law.

After some insistence from Hospice staff and her fiancé, Smith allowed the event to be moved from her living room to an outdoor space in Indian Springs State Park, Georgia. Johnson will provide the ceremony, and Hospice staff members have excitedly begun to put together decorations for the event — Many members of the middle Georgia community have come together to ensure her wedding comes with all the fixings.

“I made a plea out to Robins To-Go and said, ‘hey, I’ve got a patient who’s getting married. It’s on her bucket list, and these are some things that we need some help with. Does anybody want to help?’” Johnson explained. “It has been beautiful to watch the community come together. There are strangers that have never met her, that I’ve never met, that no one on our team has ever met, that have stepped up to do photography, stepped up to do her cake, stepped up to do the sound equipment for the day, volunteers that want to help decorate, help serve, there’s a restaurant that’s providing food for the reception — it’s mind blowing how the community has stepped up to make this happen.”

Many of the staff members at Hospice Care Options have lent their time to coordinate the event, piecing together decorations (sometimes staying up until 2 a.m. to do so), and doing whatever else they can.

Warner Robins Photographers Cait Biddle and Jenny Cabello will take photos of the wedding, free of charge. April Williams at Heritage Memorial Funeral Home, of Warner Robins, is providing the sound equipment. Chef Amber Palfy, of The Rookery and Natalia’s in Macon, is making the cake and Sharon and Chris Kelly are sharing their electric wheelchair for the day.

The Dream Foundation is paying for the reception’s food and providing the bride’s bouquet as well as the wedding parties bouquets and boutonnieres. Hunter’s Café, near Indian Springs, will provide the food for the reception.

The couple also have a dress and rings.

These groups have donated their time, skills and funds to help make this request of Smith’s come to life.

Smith herself said she’s excited, but at the same time, anxious.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Smith said. Hearing how the community has stepped up to provide the wedding, Smith said it’s almost unbelievable.

“Me and Tom, we were going to do everything we thought we needed to get done — we were going to do the cooking, we were going to do the little bit of decoration we thought we were going to do … I think it’s going to be above and beyond what I had envisioned. It’s greatly appreciated.”

Smith thanked the community, from herself and her fiancé, for their help in putting all this together.

Johnson explained why something like this is so important to Hospice Care Options, and provided a final message.

“Anytime we have a patient that has an obtainable goal for their bucket list, that’s what we’re going to do,” Johnson said. “Just two weeks ago, I reunited a patient who had not seen her brother in 30 years. Another patient, who is a ward of the state and had to give up everything to go into a facility, lost contact with everybody — it’s been 10 years since she’s been able to hear her friends voice or know if her dog is still alive — any time we have something like that, that’s obtainable, it’s rewarding.

“It’s never too late to make someone smile, it’s never too late to bring joy to someone’s life. You may not get tomorrow, so seize the moment today.”

HHJ News