Man with an incurable brain tumor finally marries his longtime love
Houston – This week, 45-year-old Corey Cunningham was rushed to Houston Methodist Hospital. He was the first patient ever brought there to have his bachelor status removed.
Corey has glioblastoma, an incurable brain tumor, and is on home hospice. But the doctors and nurses at Houston Methodist brought him back to the chapel, just so Corey could cross off the only thing on his bucket list: get married to Tyyisha Evans.
"That was the one thing he wanted to do before he died," she said.
Tyyisha and Corey dated for seven years. And although he knew he wanted to marry her from the moment they met, she turned down his proposal nearly a dozen times, because she said, "his job was more important." Corey worked in oil and gas, traveled the world and made good money.
"Money was everything to Corey," Tyyisha said.
But not to her. Tyyisha always said she would never marry a guy who was never around. So what changed? It's not what you think.
Tyyisha said pity played no part in her change of heart. She says Corey still had to prove he was the man of her dreams. Fortunately, one of the few blessings of a terminal illness is to understand what true love takes.
"Everything about him is just completely different. When you walked in the room you could feel it," Tyyisha said.
The first step in his transformation was acknowledging he'd been a fool.
"Yes, because I could have been spending more time with her," Corey said.
The second step was making up for all that lost time. Corey said he already feels like "the luckiest man alive."
This Valentine's weekend, a lot of guys and girls will celebrate with fine food and even finer jewelry.
But not these newlyweds. From this day forward, for worse, for poorer and in sickness, Corey and Tyyisha will honor the harshest demands of their wedding vows. Because they know those are the only parts of the promise that guarantee you a happily ever after.
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