CBS 2 Exclusive: Residency Match Day Turns Into Marriage Proposal For L.I. Med Students

STONY BROOK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Friday was match day in the U.S., when 25,000 medical students from around the country found out their residency assignments.

And as CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan reported exclusively, an extra surprise was inside one student's match day envelope.

Fourth-year Stony Brook University School of Medicine student Gaby Chancay had butterflies – match day was mere moments away. Where would her medical career be launched?

Her classmate and boyfriend, Roger Luo, was on pins and needles, too. Would they be matched to the same city?

But Luo's nerves were sky high for another reason. Tucked inside Chancay's residency match envelope was a marriage proposal.

CBS 2 was there when Chancay opened the envelope.

"This is real. This is real, OK? You are the love of my life, all right? I wanted to surprise you," Luo told Chancay. "You are the reason I am here today, the reason I am the man I am, OK? I love you so much. Will you marry me?"

Chancay said her response was, "Oh, yes – heck yes."

Luo said he didn't doubt that Chancay would say yes, but his heart was pounding anyway.

"I knew that she was likely to say yes. I just spoke from the heart," he said. "You know, I think those word were in my mind for years. I have known for years she is the one for me."

"A godsend -- he's like a perfect man for me," Chancay said. "So I thank God every day that I met him, and that we're together."

The medical school matching was almost an afterthought, but both got their number one choices.

Luo, from Lower Manhattan, and Chancay, from the Bronx, met at Williams College. They are children of immigrants from China and Ecuador, respectively, and they fell in love while in medical school at Stony Brook.

"This was a great day for all of our 127 students, but particularly for the two of them," said Stony Brook University School of Medicine dean Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky. "People had a lot of tears."

Tears flowed into champagne – a match made in heaven.

Amazingly, the pair also nearly matched cities – one headed to Rutgers, the other to Mount Sinai. And there will soon be a wedding date in New York City.

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