Wisconsin man in hospice care with ALS marries soul mate
The couple met three years ago, about a year and a half before Eric got his ALS diagnosis. (Supplied)
HAMMOND, Wis. (FOX 9) - In sickness and in health: A western Wisconsin couple tied the knot on Saturday as the groom faces a fatal diagnosis.
The Hammond, Wisconsin couple met three years ago and, a year and a half later, Eric Marx was diagnosed with ALS.
Eric says he knew his fiancée was the one the day he met her. Despite his diagnosis, they decided to go forward with their plans to marry. Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for a wedding, hosted in the home where Eric Marx and Kathy Hague planned to grow old.
"It was like, well, we’re just going to have a few people, then, well we should invite a few friends," explained Kathy.
Now, the home is where they plan to make Eric comfortable until it's his time.
"Before we actually decided to get married, we already started planning my funeral," he said. "Everything is bought and paid for because we know what the end result is going to be.”
"We kind of thought something was not right, but we certainly didn’t expect ALS," said Kathy.
He had planned to propose during their upcoming vacation but, instead, pulled the ring out, right then and there.
"He proposed in the throes of crying," said Kathy. "He said, 'I’ve had this for you.'"
Kathy needed no time to answer.
"When it first happened," explained Eric, as he wiped away tears, "I told her she could walk away, and she didn’t."
She never even considered it.
"I don’t leave," said Kathy. "When you love someone, you stay with them."
Because in sickness and in health, love remains.
"I couldn’t love him any more," said Kathy, "and he makes me complete."
"We’ve always had the saying of ‘I love you more’ it’s not that I love you more than you love me," added Eric. "It’s that I love you more than what’s happening or what’s going on around us."
Because when nothing else will cure you, love truly is all you need.
ALS attacks certain cells in the brain and the spinal cord needed to keep muscles moving. There is currently no cure.