Transplant candidate to wed at hospital

BOSTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A man waiting for a heart transplant at Boston's Tufts-New England Medical Center is planning to get married at the hospital this weekend.

Serge Carrier, 49, and Nicole Gobeil, 54, plan to get married Saturday in the hospital's executive offices, WCVB-TV, Boston reported Friday.

During their engagement last fall, Carrier had complained of shoulder pain. Gobeil took him to the hospital, where they learned he'd had a massive heart attack, and his heart was severely damaged.

Carrier was treated with medicines and a balloon pump. His condition continued to deteriorate, and cardiac surgeons placed a left ventricular assist device to keep Carrier alive while he waited for a heart transplant.

"When he woke up in the hospital, he asked if I still wanted to marry him," Gobeil said. "I told him, 'Of course I do. I won't let you go.'"

Carrier is near the top of the transplant list and since he is too sick to leave the hospital, Tufts-New England Medical Center is bringing the wedding to him, the station reported.

"He didn't want to wait," Gobeil said. "He told me that if he dies he still wants to be able to say that he married the woman he loves."