Woman with cancer gets married, dies 18 hours later

A Connecticut woman got to marry the man of her dream before passing away 18 hours later.

Heather Mosher married her husband, David, a few days before Christmas at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, before dying on December 23, the Daily Mail reported.

"It reminds me of someone who is crossing the finish line of a marathon or something," David said to WFSB.

"Nobody thought she would've made it that far. She proved them all wrong and that's what that photo says to me.

The two had met at a swing dance class two and a half years ago in May 2015.

"We were just kind of inseparable after that," David added.

But on December 23, 2016, their fairy tale would reach a bittersweet moment when Heather announced she had breast cancer.

David said: "She didn't know I was going to propose that night, but I said to myself, she needs to know she's not going to go down this road alone.

I've been asked to share this beautiful photo I took. Heather in all her glory next to the man of her dreams. She did...

Posted by Christina Lee on Saturday, 23 December 2017

And he continued with the proposal as planned.

"A pair of draft horses, a carriage, and I arranged it all for that night. We went out on the carriage ride and I proposed to her under a street light," David detailed.

But five days later, the diagnosis became triple negative which is one of the most aggressive forms that breast cancer can take.

He added: "We would go to Dana Farber weekly, we were going to natural doctors. Our life became consumed with cancer."

But by September 2017, the cancer spread.

"We found out it was in her brain and a couple months later, she was on life support with a breathing tube," David said.

And while it wasn't expected for Heather to make it past October, her fighting spirit had other ideas.

"She was tough. Anyone else would have given up a long time ago. The doctors even said we don't know how she's still here," he added.

While the bride-to-be looked forward to her December 30th wedding day, the hits from the cancer kept getting worse.

"The doctors said we know you want to get married on December 30th, but if you want to get married, you should move it up," David said of a private conversation he had with doctors.

So the ceremony was moved to December 22 at the St. Francis chapel.

"I knew it was going to be the last time we were going to be together in a love way, it just seemed like the strangest funeral I've ever been to," David said.

And the last words that Heather uttered, were her wedding vows.

Bridesmaid Christina Karas recorded the last part of Heather's wedding vows.

"We were losing her as we were all standing there, thinking, to hold onto this, because this was the last she had to give," Karas said.

A year after they got engaged, Heather passed on December 23.

"She's my great love, and I'm going to lose her, but I'm not losing her forever," David explained.

And even though David is attending the funeral for his wife, he's taken a piece of her spirit with him to take with him, forever.

"Heather said, 'I want to keep fighting,' so that's the mantra I'm picking up. She was able to fight til the end, I'm going to fight until my end," David said.