For Sinead Jackson, having her father walk her down the aisle was one of the moments she had looked forward to most at her wedding. But just days before she was due to marry her partner, Stephen, her father, Leslie Healy, was admitted to hospital with a heart problem and was told he was too unwell to attend the ceremony.Rather than let the moment pass without him, Sinead found a way to share part of her wedding day with her father. She visited him at Tameside Hospital in England, wearing her wedding dress, and the two shared a father-daughter dance on the hospital’s acute cardiology unit.According to a report by PEOPLE, Sinead, 36, was due to marry Stephen on October 10 in Hyde, England. Her father had been taken to Tameside Hospital after experiencing shortness of breath and heart palpitations. The report said doctors discovered he was in heart failure, leaving him unable to attend the wedding or walk his daughter down the aisle.The hospital confirmed that Leslie had been admitted to the acute cardiology unit shortly before the wedding. It said he was still undergoing investigations to establish the cause of his admission.
Sinead wanted her father to see her in her wedding dress
The news was difficult for Sinead, who had been looking forward to her father seeing her dressed as a bride. Speaking to PEOPLE, she recalled how her mother called to tell her that Leslie had undergone a scan and needed to remain in hospital.When the family realised he would not be able to attend, she struggled to accept the change in plans. “I couldn’t stop crying,” she recalled. “It hit because it’s your dream, isn’t it? Having your dad there to walk you down the aisle. That’s the thing I was looking forward to most.”She also explained that her father had been waiting to see her in her wedding dress. “I waited weeks for Dad to see me in my dress because when I bought it, he said he wanted to see me wear it on the day. That was the dream, to see his first reaction,” she said.Sinead considered postponing the wedding, but Leslie encouraged her to go ahead. She told that she has four brothers and her father knew they would be there to support her. However, she was determined to see him before the ceremony. “My day couldn’t go ahead until I’d seen my dad,” she said.
Hospital staff helped arrange the father-daughter dance
According to the hospital’s October 16 statement, staff on the acute cardiology unit learnt that Leslie would miss his daughter’s wedding and arranged for Sinead to visit him in her wedding gown. Leslie was also dressed for the occasion. The visit gave the father and daughter an opportunity to share their first dance before the wedding ceremony, with Sinead’s mother, Mary, other family members and hospital staff present.Sinead said that the moment moved everyone around them. “All the nurses and all the patients were crying,” she said. Leslie also spoke about the experience in the hospital’s statement. “It was a very emotional day for us all, happiness for my daughter Sinead, as well as sadness at not being able to attend,” he said.Although Leslie could not be physically present at the ceremony, the family found another way to include him. Sinead’s five-year-old son, Maxy, walked her down the aisle in his grandfather’s place, at Leslie’s request.An uncle also video-called Leslie from the wedding so he could watch his daughter walk down the aisle. According to PEOPLE, he followed the ceremony virtually from his hospital room. Sinead said seeing her father before the wedding helped her feel more relaxed.Sinead and Stephen have also planned to celebrate with Leslie and take wedding photographs together once he feels better. She said she intends to wear her wedding dress again while her father puts on his suit.
