19/06/2026
Today, ENA is with Emily Eddowes, RN, and her fellow emergency nurses with the Lankenau Medical Center Emergency Department in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, after they went the extra mile for a patient who was brought into the ED on her wedding day.
Just 30 minutes before walking down the aisle, the woman suffered a seizure. Lankenau’s trauma bay — to which Eddowes and one other nurse were assigned — was the only area of the emergency department with available space. Even though she didn’t have a traumatic injury, Eddowes and the other nurse took her on as their patient.
“The way we work is to treat every patient who comes through the doors,” said Eddowes, who’s been a stretcherside nurse at Lankenau since 2021. “No matter who you are, we’re going to treat you the same. You’re here on your worst day, and we want to get you feeling better and, ideally, out the door.”
They stabilized the patient, got her through a CT scan and sent off the lab work. At that point, Eddowes said she started focusing on how they could turn her patient’s big day around.
“We just tried to flip it as soon as we could to be such a positive experience,” Eddowes said. “We said, ‘You know what? Let’s clean this up. Let’s fix your hair. You look great. Family’s on the way. We can still have a great day for you.’”
When the bride said she still wanted to get married that day, Eddowes and four other nurses took it from there. They brought the groom’s brother, who was the officiant, and the maid of honor, into the trauma bay. Eddowes said one of the nurses knew a storage closet probably had some streamers and decorations from previous staff celebrations. Before long, the trauma bay was transformed into a makeshift wedding venue.
The nurses lined everyone up for the ceremony. The bride, confined to a stretcher, had originally planned to walk down the aisle to an Adele song. One of the nurses pulled out a phone and played the song for the tight-knit group gathered in the trauma bay. Eddowes said it was clear how much these small actions meant to her patient, but their actions resonated with an even larger audience when the story was picked up by local media and even PEOPLE Magazine.
“It was an instant reminder for everybody, all of the nurses I was next to, we all looked at each other and said, ‘This is why we do what we do,’” Eddowes said. “Just to be able to help her and see the smile on her face, it reassured everybody that we’re right where we’re supposed to be. This is what we’re supposed to be doing.”
