BEHIND THE SCENES: Couple marries in T.J. Samson chapel following stage four cancer diagnosis
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. –Sometimes in life a name can say it all. And for Shawn Peacock, color, grace and kindness are pigments that decorate his character.
Shawn, an Edmonton Kentucky native, met his bride Sarah Anderson way back when.
They were classmates in elementary school and high school before Shawn moved away to Michigan.
For some reason, fate brought him back to Kentucky six years ago. One phone call later, and the childhood friends were together again.
“Those whole six years we’ve lived together, we’ve been inseparable. She’s just the love of my life,” Shawn said of Sarah.
Marriage was always a card in their deck, but with a long life ahead of them, talks of a wedding got pushed to the backburner.
Two weeks ago, everything changed when Shawn started experiencing stomach pains.
“I started feeling really bad, and [Sarah] brought me up here,” Shawn recounted. “I found out I have stage four cancer, and I knew there were no more excuses. I wanted to marry her, and that’s what we did.”
Shawn paused before continuing emotionally.
“I knew I wanted to marry her because my wife is selfless. She’s never done nothing for herself. Everything she’s done has been for other people just like these [nurses] up here. I knew I didn’t want to leave this place without being married to her.”
Shawn continued, “I said let’s get married, and one of these lovely nurses back here, when we couldn’t find a minister, she said, ‘I just got online and got ordained.”
Shawn says his team of nurses are family now.
One member on Shawn’s nursing team Haley Stotes said, “Shawn and Sarah have been an absolute joy to care for… Shawn went to ICU. He came back to our [pediatrics] floor [where he originally bonded with his new family of nurses]. We requested it just because we really enjoyed caring for them.”
Another one of his nurses Cheryl Smith said, “He just pushes through every day… I hope if I ever have something like that happen that I can be as positive as he is, and Sarah.”
Shawn left T.J. Samson Wednesday to go home with his new bride.
“Sunday was the best Mother’s Day of my life,” he recalled of his wedding that took place in T.J. Samson’s chapel. “We’re gonna go home. She might sleep for a day or two, and then we’re going to start the rest of our lives together.”
When I asked Shawn how he could be so positive in such a hard time, he said, “If someone sees this and it helps them know it’s something worth fighting over and living life and something worth doing, I hope I can inspire them to do so.”
Sometimes in life a name can say it all. So, thank you Shawn Peacock for showing us your blinding character.
