Saturday, February 11, 2012

Story : The bride was beautiful

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Story summary:

The photo set is of 21 year old Katie Kirkpatrick, a cancer sufferer, getting married. She is pictured getting chemotherapy, then putting on her earrings while her shoulder blades jut painfully out from her backless wedding dress. In a particularly poignant shot, she is shown resting her head on the back of a chair while the festivities go on.


Katie Kirkpatrick,held off cancer to celebrate the happiest day of her life. Katie had chased cancer, once only to have it return-to clog her lungs and grab hold of her heart. Breathing was difficult now, she had to use oxygen. The pain in her back was so intense it broke through the morphine that was supposed to act as a shield. Her organs were shutting down but it would not stop her from marrying Nick Godwin, 23, who was in love with Katie since 11th grade.


An oxygen tank accompanied Katie at her wedding, and she was wheeled, not walked down the aisle. Along with diamond earrings, she also wore an insert in her nose for oxygen. The caption accompanying this photo montage states that Katie died five days after her wedding, and reminds the reader not to live a complicated life.



This remarkable photo set was taken on January 11, 2005. Before her wedding, Katie had already suffered from organ failures and was dependent on morphine to make life bearable. She also had to endured hours of chemotherapy a day.



Her battle with cancer began in 2002 on Valentine's Day, when she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Katie was just a freshman at college then. She kept on studying, but suffered another setback in '03, when she was diagnosed not just with "an inoperable lung tumour", but one wrapped around her pulmonary artery. Katie could have given up then, but she didn't, opting to even take part in a cycling fundraiser for cancer patients the year after. Another year after that, she got married.



In a world where material items and tangible goals are all that matter, it is a struggle every day to remember that it is the intangible things in life that matter most. Take a moment each day to think of all the love you receive in your life - then give it back, just like Katie did.



Katie didn't lose her battle to cancer - she beat it by doing everything she wanted to, with all her heart.


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Katie Kirkpatrick, left, and Nick Godwin, wait for the nurse to come and start Katie's treatment at McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint on the morning of January 12, 2005. Nick Godwin works night shift as a Lapeer County Sheriff's deputy and took Katie to the medical center right after a night's work, three days before their wedding. Katie is tired from not being able to sleep at night because of her pain and Nick had worked a night shift.

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Katie Kirkpatrick, 21, holds some of her daily medication for several minutes before taking them as she waves in and out of sleep because of the morphine she takes while sitting in the livingroom of the familly home in Metamora on January 11, 2005. Katie has cancer of the lungs.

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Katie is in a lot of pain in the days leading to her wedding taking morphine and numerous medications to help her. Niki Kirkpatrick,right, took a leave of abscence from work so she can take care of her daugther Katie who now needs constant assistance.


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Nick Godwin, 23, left, takes a moment of rest while his bride Katie Kirkpatrick, right, gets an intravenous procedure to reduce the amount of fluids her body is retaining at McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint on January 12, 2005. Nick Godwin who works night shift as a Lapeer County Sheriff's deputy took Katie to the medical center after a night's work, three days before their wedding.

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Katie Kirkpatrick walks past a photograph of herself when she was homecoming queen at Lapeer East High School where she also was a co-valedictorian. the photograph sits on a table in her familly's home livingroom in Metamora on January 11, 2005.

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Katie Kirkpatrick, puts on some hearings a few minutes before walking down the aisle to marry Nick Godwin, who she had known since 11th grade, at Church of Christ in Hazel Park on Saturday January 15, 2005.

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Katie Kirkpatrick and Nick Godwin,, cuddle up for a moment while waiting for the wedding photographer to get ready after getting married

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Dave Kirkpatrick gives the thumbs up to his new son in law while admiring the couple with his wife Niki Kirkpatrick, right, after Nick and Katie got married at Church of Christ in Hazel Park

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Katie Kirkpatrick Godwin, right, gets serenaded by her new husband Nick Godwin, and his best men during the wedding party on the dance floor

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Katie Kirkpatrick Godwin, center, rests for a few moments during her wedding party. Katie was exhausted. Her face looked as white as her gown.

Five days later, Katie died. She did not let sickness stop her from living, take away the hope or faith that made her believe she had a future. She had a lovely wedding and she had love and she gave love and love doesn' t die. And that is how Katie beat cancer.