In a heartwarming story of love and perseverance, a Minnesota couple tied the knot in a hospital ICU just days after the bride, Ariana Sleen, faced a life-threatening health crisis. Ariana, who was pregnant with her first child, was rushed to Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth on March 31, just two weeks before her wedding day, due to severe back pain.
Unfortunately, Ariana’s condition quickly worsened. She was diagnosed with pneumonia, which led to septic shock, and she had to be placed on a ventilator to assist with breathing. Despite the frightening turn of events, Ariana’s fiancé, Chandler Sleen, remained by her side, never leaving her during her difficult battle.
“These are the two most important people in my life right here, and they were both struggling,” Chandler shared in an interview with local news. Ariana’s condition remained critical as she faced multiple infections, including a severe urinary tract infection, kidney infection, and lung infection. However, her condition began to improve, and she was taken off the ventilator just one day before the couple’s originally planned wedding date.
As luck would have it, Ariana’s nurses stepped in to make sure the wedding still happened. With the couple’s original wedding date fast approaching, the nurses decided to transform Ariana’s ICU room into a makeshift wedding venue. They carefully tidied up the space, set up a wedding cake, and even used carts as tables, making it a memorable occasion despite the hospital setting.
Three of Ariana’s ICU nurses—Madeline Vogel, Olivia Schmid, and Deanna Anderson—helped make the wedding a reality, working together to get Ariana into her wedding gown and facilitate the ceremony. “We had to get creative,” said Nurse Vogel, while Nurse Anderson added that she had tried her best to make the room “a little more festive.”
Ariana and Chandler were married in the “Taylor Swift Suite” of the ICU, with Ariana still recovering but strong enough to say “I do” while lying in her hospital bed. The moment was filled with emotion, with Nurse Vogel commenting, “This might top the list for the happiest things I’ve seen at work.”
It was an incredibly special moment for the couple, and for everyone involved in making their dream wedding come true despite the circumstances. For Ariana, the wedding was a sign of divine intervention. “It was like God’s divine intervention,” she said, reflecting on how everything seemed to align perfectly.
The couple’s determination to get married, even in the face of such adversity, truly highlighted their commitment to each other and their shared journey of love, health, and family.
