Now this is true love...Really puts things in perspective!!!

I only wish I had seen this story when I first started planning my wedding, it would have helped me to put things into perspective a lot sooner and to not worry so much about the little stuff. It is scary how close I came to this being me and I still forget how lucky I am sometimes. Please read this and really think about what is important in life:)

Katie has terminal cancer and spend hours a day receiving medication. Katie had chased away cancer once, only to have it return - to clog her lungs and grab hold of her heart. Breathing was difficult now, she had to use oxygen. The pain in her back was so intense it broke through the morphine that was supposed to act as a shield. Her organs were shutting down but it would not stop her from marrying Nick, 23, who was in love with Katie since 11th grade.

In this picture, they were waiting for the nurse to come and start Katie's treatment at McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint on the morning of January 12, 2005.

Nick who works night shift as a Lapeer County Sheriff's deputy took Katie to the medical center after a night's work, three days before their wedding. In the picture, Nick Godwin, left, is waiting for her and takes a moment of rest while his bride Katie, right, gets an intravenous procedure to reduce the amount of fluids her body is retaining.

Katie holds some of her daily medication for several minutes before taking them as she waves in and out of sleep because of the morphine she takes while sitting in the living room of the family home in Metamora.

She was in a lot of pain in the days leading to her wedding taking morphine and numerous medications to help her. Niki ,right, took a leave of absence from work so she can take care of her daughter, Katie who now needs constant assistance.

Katie walks past a photograph of herself when she was homecoming queen at Lapeer East High School where she also was a co-valedictorian. the photograph sits on a table in her family's home living room in Metamora.

In spite of all the pain, organ failures, and morphine shots, Katie is going along with her wedding and took care of every detail. The dress had to be adjusted a few times due to her constant weight loss.

Katie puts on some earrings a few minutes before walking down the aisle to marry the man who she had known since 11th grade, at Church of Christ in Hazel Park on Saturday January 15, 2005.
An unusual accessory at the party was the oxygen tube that Katie used throughout the ceremony and reception as well.The other couple in the picture are Nick's parents. Excited to see her son marrying his high school sweetheart.

Here the couple says their vows....In sickness, in health...Till death do us part. Knowing that these were their realities.
Katie in her wheelchair with the oxygen tube, gets serenaded by her new husband and his best men during the wedding party on the dance floor.At the reception, Katie had to take a few rests. She was exhausted. Her face looked as white as her gown. The pain do not let her to be standing up for long periods.
Katie died five days later after her wedding day.She did not let sickness stop her from living, take away the hope or faith that made her believe she had a future. She had a lovely wedding and she had love and she gave love and love doesn't die. And that is how Katie beat cancer.

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What a strong and determined young woman, Katie was. I am truly amazed at her strength, to get up and get dressed and to be able to get married when she was so sick and weak!! That is soo amazing! And what an amazing and awesome man, Nick is!! He loved her so much that he never left her side! To stay with her through her treatments, and most importantly, to marry her instead of breaking up and running away! Watching a women so ill and weak getting married and with a smile on her face makes us think..Happiness is reachable, no matter how long it last. We should appreciate what we have in our lives and the time we have it:)

Life is short.

Break the rules.

Forgive quickly.

Love truly.

Laugh constantly.

And never stop smiling.