Couple marries at T.J. Samson Community Hospital

GLASGOW, Ky. – Staff at T.J. Samson Community Hospital joined efforts to help a patient marry his fiancée after facing a life-altering diagnosis.

With their help, Shawn Peacock married Sarah Anderson May 8 after the wedding was pushed back several times due to the groom’s health.

After he was diagnosed, Peacock said to his nurse that he did not want to leave the hospital without being Anderson’s husband, even if he felt he would survive his condition.

The hospital said everyone who heard the news wanted to help. Physicians, nurses, aides, housekeepers, the marketing department, the quality department, the gift shop and a few businesses worked together to make the wedding a reality. A nurse even went online and earned her officiant’s license to help complete the ceremony.

The wedding took place in a chapel beside the intensive care unit.

“I’ve been in hospitals where I’ve walked in sick and walked out two weeks later thinking, ‘I don’t know if I feel any better.’ But here, I walked in, and within 24 hours, my thoughts were, ‘Wow. There are people here who want to save my life,’” Peacock said. “I want to tell this story. I want the community to know about it, and about this place. I want to honor my wife, but also everyone here. I want people to know that you can go out and get healthcare…or you can get excellent healthcare. That’s what this place does. I know for some people, it’s not ideal, getting married in a hospital. But for me, I would not have wanted it to be any other way. Your team made this the best day of my whole life. Some people may look at you as just staff’- doctors, nurses, housekeepers. But they should see you as the instruments of God, placed here to create a little bit of happiness for mankind.”

The T.J. Samson team said they wish the couple all the best.