Hospital wedding with father in hospital and groom going to Afghanistan

Hospital wedding has a different ring to it
With the bride's father bedridden and the groom bound soon for Afghanistan, an ICU room at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center serves as the chapel.

By Martha Groves

September 13, 2009


The bride wasn't the only one wearing a gown.

An intensive care unit at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center was the scene Saturday morning of a wedding designed around the bride's bedridden father, hospitalized since early July with a rare neuromuscular disorder.

When Janette Villalobos, 20, realized that her father, Johnny, would not be able to attend her planned backyard wedding and barbecue in San Dimas, she and fiance Michael Arroyo decided to take the nuptials to him. They felt some urgency because Arroyo, 26, a Navy corpsman stationed in Twentynine Palms, is scheduled to leave Oct. 6 for a 14-month deployment in Afghanistan.

The hospital's patient-affairs staff arranged for bride and bridegroom and a few friends and family members to crowd into the antiseptic room where Johnny Villalobos, 47, has been recovering from the removal of his thymus gland, a treatment that doctors hope will alleviate muscle weakness and other symptoms of myasthenia gravis.
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Hospital wedding has a different ring to it