Cancer patient gets his dying wish

MARYSVILLE – Daniel Robertson watched his bride walk down the aisle on Wednesday afternoon — one of the last moments he will have with her.

Robertson, 63, of Port Huron, was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer on Jan. 16.

When he first learned his diagnosis he felt scared, but his next thought was that he needed to marry the love of his life before he died.

He was told he had three to six months to live.

So the wedding planning began.

"While I was excited to finally be marrying him, I was heartbroken," said Leeanna Robertson, 46. "As I walked down the aisle I just thought he still looked so good and I was so happy to see him standing."

As his health declined dramatically in the past week, Daniel Robertson began having trouble breathing, lost his strength and became reliant on a wheelchair.

The wedding was originally planned for Feb. 27.

But it's likely he won't hold on that long.

"We planned the wedding for next Friday, but then his nurse said he wouldn't make it to his wedding," said Emily Quandt, Blue Water Hospice social worker. "So we organized this in 24 hours."

The Blue Water Hospice Home, 2795 Edison, Marysville, transformed into a wedding chapel for the day.

Daniel and Leeanna Robertson met online. They talked for hours until Daniel Robertson finally decided to pack up his life and move from Portland, Oregon, to Port Huron in 2009.

"I knew she was the one because I thought about her 24-seven," he said. "From the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed she was on my mind."

While his voice was hushed and tired, he still was humorous.

"I'm feeling fantastic today," he said. "As she walked down the aisle I was thinking, 'What took her so darn long to get ready? She had me waiting at the altar for her.'"

Leeanna Robertson said the cancer diagnosis was not something she was not ready for — nor was she ready for the frosting her new husband shoved in her face as he laughed.

The Blue Water Hospice pulled together to make the wedding a reality.

"We take care of the whole patient here," said Jean Flint, Robertson's nurse. "One of his goals in life was to get married, so we wanted to make that happen."

Quandt secured a donated cake from Sam's Club and borrowed a hair stylist from Salon Pizazz while Ullenbruch Flowers and Gifts donated flowers and Blue Water Dry Cleaners pressed the wedding dress. The St. Clair County clerk also waived the three-day waiting period required when applying for a marriage license.

While her mom was beaming with happiness today, Angel Maushund, 26, said she knows her mom is about to feel an immense amount of hurt.

"I cried when I heard the diagnosis," Maushund said. "But it's going to impact my mom even more. In the past week his face has become sunken and yellowed. The doctors told us he is fading fast now."

But Wednesday was only a day for happiness.

"I have finally married my true love and my soul mate," Leeanna Robertson said. "We wanted to do nothing else but get married."

Contact Nicole Hayden at (810) 989-6279 or nhayden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleHayden_TH.