The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nonprofit fulfills dreams of couples facing major illness
When Angela Dugan of Crown Point, Indiana, was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of ovarian cancer in 2012, the prognosis was a 15% survival rate within the first year. Of those who survive the first year, 15% survive five years.
She endured bouts of radiation and chemotherapy and did what the medical professionals told her to do. After a year, she was told there was “no evidence of disease.”
“I survived my first year and had just made five years and two weeks, and it came back,” Dugan said. “The ovarian cancer metastasized to my spleen.”
Amid this ordeal, in 2017, she became engaged to Brad Andrews, a man she’d known from childhood. They’d reconnected as adults and had become inseparable.
“When we first got engaged, we talked about wanting a dream wedding,” Dugan said. “So when I got sick again, I thought, ‘There is no way that I can do a wedding. We’re just going to have to go to the justice of the peace.’”
When someone in one of her Facebook support groups recommended she contact the nonprofit Wish Upon a Wedding, she applied. She won a wedding at no cost to her or her fiance.
Wish Upon a Wedding grants weddings and vow renewals to couples facing serious illness or life-altering health circumstances. The volunteer organization relies on donations by individuals and wedding professionals to make dreams come true for couples who are dealing with the financial and emotional costs of sickness.
Wish Upon a Wedding receives about 15 applications per month, said Liz Guthrie, who founded the organization in San Jose, California, in 2009. After the board chooses the couples, task forces of hundreds of volunteers from local committees plan the festivities. All costs are covered for a guest list of up to 50 people.
Dugan and Andrews wed on Dec. 11, 2018, in Chicago. Her colors were navy blue and yellow.
“The wedding planner asked, ‘What kind of a plan do you have?’ And every day, I was getting my energy taken away, slowly,” Dugan said. “I was like: I’m not a good creative person. Can you help me? And every step of the way, she exceeded anything I could possibly imagine. They took care of every detail, every step of the way.”
She said she felt like a princess. In a wedding dress bought by her sisters and best friends, Dugan had “a celebration of life, a celebration of our love, a celebration of our family.”
She’s doing well now and has no evidence of disease. “Right now, I’m trying to live my normal life and take it day by day,” she said.