‘Amazing day’

One was their one-month anniversary.

The other was that Voshall-Badger was able to see it.  

The couple married in July during a special ceremony held at the Valleyview Health Centre, located 110 km east of Grande Prairie.

“Like any other wedding, it was busy and hectic but it went quick,” says Voshall-Badger, a palliative care patient at the Valleyview Health Centre and resident of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. “It was an amazing day.” 
 
Since she was first diagnosed with colon cancer three years ago, Voshall-Badger, 34, has fought bravely against the disease. But when it spread to her lungs in June, doctors at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and the Valleyview Health Centre determined she would ultimately not win her battle.  

The couple, who have been together for about four years, realized it was time to follow through on their plans to get married. But the wedding would have to be at the Valleyview Health Centre, where Voshall-Badger needed to stay to receive fluids for her treatment.
 
“It sort of ended up being a spur-of-the-moment thing and it escalated,” says Badger, 37. “We planned the wedding in three days with the help of family and friends and staff at the hospital.”  

A blue wedding dress for Voshall-Badger was found at the local Salvation Army store, and Leon’s mother, Bernice Marcott, baked the wedding cake. Voshall-Badger’s 16-year-old son, Devon, wheeled her down the aisle  — a hospital hallway — to the ceremony, which was held outdoors in a side courtyard.  

“My oldest (son) was really proud for it to happen,” says Voshall-Badger, who has two other sons, 14-year-old Alphonse and 12-year-old Terry. “He was the one who gave me away.”  
More than 60 of the couple’s friends and family, as well as several hospital staff, attended the ceremony, held on a sunny Friday afternoon.
 
“It made my eyes well up and I had a big lump in my throat,” says Philomene Kappo, who works as an aboriginal liaison worker with Alberta Health Services and helped organize the wedding. “It was beautiful and Eunice was so thrilled.” 
 
Since then, Voshall-Badger has remained in hospital, save for trips to specialists in Grande Prairie and Edmonton and home visits to Sturgeon Lake.
 
Kappo, who’s provided counselling and support for aboriginal patients at the hospital since 1998, is amazed by Voshall-Badger’s resolve.  

“She’s already asked me if I would do the eulogy for her. So, here she is — planning her funeral and she just had her wedding,” Kappo says. “She’s taught me a lot. When my time comes, that’s the way I want to be, too."

Badger spends almost all of his time at his wife’s bedside and treasures every moment he has with her. He is also thankful that hospital staff helped make their wedding happen.  

“I’m very happy but, at the same time, I have concerns that she might not have that long to go,” Badger says. “But I’m of the mind that miracles happen and I’m hoping this time it’s going to be one of those times.”