Bride Marries Days After Escaping Fire by Jumping from 3rd Story Window
Maid of honor was also injured by the fall.
— -- A Colorado woman is just thankful she could walk down the aisle after she escaped a raging fire less than a week before her wedding by jumping from a third-story window.
Lenise Ruff, 23, was married Saturday in Castle Rock, Colo., even after she suffered burns on her face and hands from the fire and her maid of honor broke two vertebrae in the fall.
"We rolled with the punches," Ruff said. "My [maid of honor] was able to make it and went to the ceremony. [She] sent a voice message that was played over a microphone for a toast... I don't think there was a dry eye in room."
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Ruff and her roommate, also her maid of honor, Marilyn Kruc, had been trapped by a fire in their Centennial, Colo., apartment building on Monday.
Without other options, Ruff and Kruc had to jump from their third-floor apartment rather than risk remaining near the smoke and flames. Ruff suffered burns on her face and hands, while Kruc had two broken vertebrae.
In spite of the injuries, Ruff decided to go ahead with the wedding, even though she wasn't sure whether Kruc would be able to attend. The day before the wedding Ruff talked to Kruc, who insisted she would be able to attend the ceremony no matter what.
"When she did come right before the ceremony. It was a beautiful moment to see her there," Ruff told ABC News. "It's been a moment we had talked about for years, walking in each other's wedding."
ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver, showed Kruc walking gingerly down the aisle in a back brace with a walker.
"I would consider her my sister," Ruff told KMGH-TV. "I just have brothers so she's the closest thing I have to a sister and I'm just so proud of her for her courage and her strength. For her [to make] that trip, I know it was hard, it means a lot to us."
Ruff said the rest of the wedding day went perfectly and is traveling to Hawaii with Brown today for a week-long honeymoon.
"I'm extremely happy," Ruff said. "We're ready to relax and forget the world a little bit."