Erwin Sigueroa and (Freddy) Garcia on their makeshift wedding day. / Screenshot via YouTube @QVoiceNews
This’ll probably be the sweetest and saddest thing you’ll see all week.
Alfredo Garcia III is currently receiving treatment at Chicago’s Seasons Hospice MacNeal Inpatient Center for Stage IV liver cancer and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a cancer that spread through the lymph system). And unfortunately, Garcia is losing the fight. But, it was in these moments that he was granted a beautiful wish.
When greeted by the director of hospice, Bryan Pottow, Gracia, who has also lived with HIV for eight years, was asked for his dying wishes. In response, Garcia asked to marry his boyfriend of five years Erwin Sigueroa. The two where childhood friends who developed a romantic relationship after growing up in the Little Village neighborhood.
“They had been talking about being married for a year,” Pottow said to QVoiceNews. “I told Alfredo, We can make that happen.”
While the good director was more than willing to set up the marriage, Garcia’s condition worsened quickly. Unfortunately, that means they couldn’t co-ordinate getting a courthouse official to appear in time to make the marriage a legal union.
Despite that, a ceremony was still held in the hospital with 12 people attending, including Pottow and Garcia’s two siblings.
“Our Seasons Hospice team surrounded Alfredo and Erwin with love, with our chaplain performing a wedding ceremony as our music therapist played their favorite tunes. We had champagne, catered in the couples’ favorite food and had the best wedding we could for this couple,” said hospice spokesperson April Dovorany to LGBTQ Nation. “It was a time of joy during a very difficult time in this couple’s life.”
“It was lovely to carry out Alfredo’s last wish with Erwin. Alfredo also had the opportunity to be surrounded by his family,” Pottow added. “They were very happy with it. These are life-long memories for Erwin. He will cherish them forever.”
