RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Kenneth Sykes has always been sure about Stephanie Pollard.
"I knew that I had my mind made up when I first laid eyes on her,” he said.
They were a match made on the overnight shift at work. She was on the assembly line. He was part of the cleaning crew.
"The best five years of my whole entire life,” Kenneth said.
He proposed last year, and they set the date: Oct. 11.
“I've never met a woman like her before and that's why I'm going to marry her,” he said.
Even if that meant moving up the wedding.
A couple weeks ago, Stephanie was diagnosed with advanced uterine cancer. Wednesday, the couple learned the doctors are sure — there's no time to spare.
"We decided that she couldn't go to her wedding, so we brought her wedding to her,” Dr. Shannon Grabosch said. "You can, in fact, plan it in two hours."
Family drove from Chicago to SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in St. Louis.
Stephanie's nurses and the palliative and pastoral care teams at SSM Health St. Mary’s turned the tiny room across the hall into a space for celebration.
People came from all over the hospital to witness the couple say, “I do.”
"I just want to thank them for being here for me because I couldn't have done it by myself,” Stephanie said.
It was a moment of joy on a day of uncertainty. But one thing's for sure.
"I'm gonna be here for her no matter what until death do us part,” Kenneth said. "She will always be my angel."