**UPDATE as of December 9, 2017: Sadly, Preston Roland, 64, passed away on Monday, December 4th, just weeks after the happiest day of his daughter’s life.
“I’ve gained an angel but I’ve lost my Superman,” now married daughter Vieneese Stanton told Ebony.com.
——————-Original Story Below—————————-
There’s no greater joy for a dad when he can witness his daughter getting married and being able to give her away to a man he approves of. Seeing your daughter grow up, learn and finally meet a suitable guy that will take care of her in next stage of life. But the father of Vieneese Stanton almost didn’t get a chance to do it.
According to feel-good website, Love What Matters, Stanton moved up her wedding date and location to the hospital where her dad was being treated for leukemia.
On the Love What Matters facebook page, Vieneese explain how it all came together.
“This was one of the best moments of my life. This man has raised me since I was 3 years old; and now I get the chance to be there for him. My Dad was diagnosed with leukemia in February of this year. He has been in and out of the hospital, and on several medications and chemo treatments; yet nothing has seemed to work in his favor. My Dad has no immune system because of the cancer and an infection has almost completely filled his right lung. Doctors believe that in the next few weeks, my Dad will no longer be able to breathe and was only given a few weeks to live because of his air quality in his lungs.”
Leukemia is a cancer of the early blood-forming cells. Most often, leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells, but some leukemias start in other blood cell types. Your white blood cells are potent infection fighters — they normally grow and divide in an orderly way, as your body needs them. But in people with leukemia, the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells, which don’t function properly. Leukemia is often described as being either acute (fast growing) or chronic (slow growing).
Treatment for leukemia can be complex — depending on the type of leukemia and other factors. In Stanton’s dad’s case, it seems as though the normal treatments were not working.
“My new husband had proposed to me earlier this year and we were planning a big wedding for next April. Given the news of my father’s life expectancy (and with the help of an AMAZING nurse team), we were able to have a surprise wedding so my Dad could attend. The nurse team kept the wedding a secret from my Dad, so this whole day was a surprise to him. He thought I was going to Las Vegas to get married (no idea why he thought that, lol)! it was a such a beautiful day. The doctors are now ready to place my father on hospice, but he still has the will, the spunk, and the humor to be completely alive.”
“We have both dreamed of him walking me down the aisle to my groom— and that moment finally happened. This was truly, best day of my life! ‘Dad, I love you more than you know, and I am going to be by your side for every step of this process.'”
The original post on the Love What Matters page garnered over 30,000 likes and thousands of shares. When it comes down to it, love does really matter including family.
Despite receiving similar cancer treatment as other patients, African Americans with a common form of leukemia didn’t live as long in a 2013 groundbreaking study on health disparities. But another form of leukemia, Chronic Myelogenous leukemia (CML) is also becoming more familiar in the black community.
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