Strangers Give Bride Early Wedding So Dad With Cancer Can Walk Her Down the Aisle
"It was wonderful," said Karl Jones.
— -- Thanks to the help and generosity of strangers, a New York father with cancer was able to walk his daughter down the aisle.
Alyssa Kamm, 28, a Rochester resident, moved up her wedding after learning that her dad Karl Jones was diagnosed with the disease just three weeks ago.
"It was more than I could've ever asked for," Alyssa Kamm told ABC News of her nuptials. "My dad's always been a superhero to me, invincible. I'm such a daddy's girl, so when I heard that about him it just broke my heart. To imagine not having him with me, there to walk me down the aisle, was the worst thought. I would've been heartbroken if my dad couldn't have done that for me."
Jones was diagnosed with an advanced cancer on Jan. 13.
Kamm said she found out that day while at a conference for work.
"I kept getting cryptic texts and no one was really telling me what was going on," she recalled. "I knew it was bad but I didn’t know it was going to be as bad. When I got to my parents’ house finally, I cried. My mom told me to go upstairs and talk to my dad, and that’s when he told me. Finally, I just came to terms."
Jones learned he had multiple myeloma -- a cancer of the plasma cells.
Jones has been through two cycles of chemo at Interlakes Oncology and Hematology at Unity Hospital, an affiliate of the University of Rochester Medical Center, Jones' medical oncologist Dr. Dirk Bernold told ABC News.
"He was starting on chemotherapy that he received on a weekly basis and he's getting his third dose today," Bernold said of Jones. "His pain is already improving, his blood cell counts looking like it's improving. So we are hoping that he has a good response to his chemotherapy and then from here he will go on to a stem cell transplant. We're hoping that he has an excellent response and many years, so not only did he see the wedding of his daughter, but we're hoping for the birth of his grandchildren too."
Alyssa Kamm and her now-husband Michael Kamm had hopes of marrying in 2018, but due to Jones' illness, she wanted to ensure he'd be there to celebrate.
Jennifer Kamm, Alyssa Kamm's sister-in-law, posted the family's story on a Facebook bridal forum. Soon after, messages poured in from wedding vendors in the Rochester area.
All in all, nearly 20 businesses donated their services pro bono, including the Finger Lakes Hotel Wedding and Banquet Center in Farmington, New York, who hosted the couple's Feb. 4 nuptials.
Venue owner Angelo Prestigiacomo reached out after seeing Jennifer Kamm's Facebook post.
"It was definitely intriguing to us and it was really sad," Prestigiacomo told ABC News. "It was a tragic situation and we told them, 'Whatever we got to do to make it work' ... everyone from the DJ to the flowers -- there's been so many donations, it's been incredible."
On the evening of Feb. 4, in front of 100 family members and friends, Jones walked Alyssa Kamm down to her groom. Later, the pair shared a father-daughter dance.
"She wanted to rush this because when you hear 'cancer,' you don't know how long someone has to live and she wanted to make sure that daddy walked her down the aisle," Jones said. "That was her main thing. I didn't use the walker that I had. I was in pain, but I said 'I'm going to walk through this.' It was wonderful."
Both Jones and Alyssa Kamm said "there's no words" to express their gratitude to the following vendors that made the special day possible: