00:00They thought this could be their only chance to get married.
00:04You're now husband and wife. Congratulations.
00:08Garrett was about to get a lung transplant, but not before marrying the love of his life, Taylor.
00:15He was a seemingly healthy 23-year-old when he started getting random coughs and pains,
00:20which led him down a long health journey.
00:23My lungs kept collapsing.
00:25I ended up having multiple surgeries with my native lungs to fasten them to my ribcage.
00:31But unfortunately, my lungs were just too torn up and just too scarred up for that to really matter.
00:39I was losing so much weight so rapidly that it was terrifying for people around us that could see it happening.
00:46That's when doctors started talking about a possible lung transplant.
00:51For me, it got to the point where, like, anything was better than what I was going through at the time.
00:57It was really hard on everybody, not just me.
01:00Taylor, she wasn't sleeping. She was taking care of me every waking hour.
01:05All I wanted to do was just be there for him and help get through whatever it was.
01:10Things just kept going down, downhill, and finally it kind of got to the point where they were like,
01:16we need to begin the process for referring y'all to a transplant center.
01:20But Garrett couldn't start the process without one thing.
01:24We were scheduled to go to Vanderbilt to get evaluated, and I was like, we're not going up there without being engaged.
01:30The proposal was long overdue. I mean, I wanted to do it before then, but I just kept getting sick.
01:37And after the proposal...
01:39We were like, you know, we definitely want to get married and have that experience before the transplant
01:45because, I mean, we had no clue how that was going to go.
01:49I guess a lot of the things that you might wonder about, like if someone's going to be there when things are hard,
01:55we had already checked those boxes.
01:58So everyone came together to make their hospital wedding unforgettable.
02:03A Judge family friend married them, and Taylor's bestie drove five hours to bring them a mini wedding cake.
02:10The nurses on our hospital floor, they overheard that we had a hospital wedding and didn't have rings
02:17and went down to the gift shop and had rings purchased for us.
02:20We were going through things that a lot of people weren't, but, you know, it was...
02:25We're still living.
02:26Still living.
02:31And the thought of one day living their dream wedding kept Garrett going after surgery.
02:37It was kind of like a light at the end of the tunnel.
02:39So it's been a crazy journey, and I know we've had little setbacks, but we're finally getting you out of here.
02:44As far as, like, the dream that I had, I just kept picturing her in a white dress and just, like, seeing her for the first time.
03:02And Garrett never did give up, so he finally got to live his dream.
03:09I was crying before she came out. I was crying in anticipation of crying. It was incredible.
03:15It was just everything and more that I'd dreamed about.
03:19She said that she never really pictured having a big wedding or anything.
03:23I didn't. I never thought that I would want to do that, but we had way too much to celebrate to not do that.
03:28Like celebrating the ability to finally be able to do the little things together again.
03:36Every day, I have a moment where, I mean, I could just be driving down the road, and I have just immense gratitude for just the most mundane thing that I'm doing.
03:49I remember being in the hospital and thinking, if I get out of this bed, I'm not going to waste another day.
04:02I miss taking out the trash. I miss going to get the mail. I miss, you know, just the little things, the little things that I miss the most.
04:09Every time I look at him, it's like, you know, we're living a normal life, or, you know, as normal as it can be.
04:18Don't take things for granted and to appreciate the little things in life, because when you can't do those things, you'll miss them.
04:29Nothing's guaranteed with your health tomorrow. Nothing. I know it's cliche. Everybody says it, but it's true.
04:35And it's important to, you know, take a look around and put your phone down and listen to the birds and just little, little things.
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