Caitie Donohue was able to virtually attend her best friend’s wedding in style with help from her Brigham care team.

On Nov. 7, 2021, Caitie Donohue watched her best friend, Ashley, walk down the aisle, recite her vows and marry the love of her life. Dressed in a light pink bridesmaid gown with a view from the front row, Donohue watched every part of the wedding — from the ceremony to the couple’s first dance — via video on an iPad.

That’s because Donohue participated from a hospital bed at the Brigham, where she was receiving treatment due to complications from her acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Donohue had been suffering from this cancer of the blood and bone marrow since January 2021.

When it became clear Donohue wouldn’t be able to attend Ashley’s wedding in person, her friends and family sprang into action. They transformed her hospital room into a wedding-ready space and helped Donohue dress up for the day. Brigham staff worked closely with Donohue to make sure she could participate — monitoring her health, managing the foot traffic in and out of her room and making sure she didn’t get too overwhelmed.

Prior to her death in June, Donohue expressed her gratitude for the members of her care team who helped make this special moment possible, including one of her nurses on Braunwald Tower 6, Meghan White, MSN, BSN.

“She’s the most amazing nurse, one of the best that I’ve had, and I’ve had a lot of nurses,” Donohue said. “She coordinated everything that day, making sure all my medications lined up so that it wouldn’t interrupt the ceremony. She had signs made for my door to make sure no one came in and interrupted. She just went above and beyond to make sure that I had the best experience that I could have had.”

White, a nurse at the Brigham for 19 years, said she was honored to help lift her young patient’s spirits.

“Caitie kept telling me how much she wanted to be there,” White said. “I said, ‘I’ll make sure no one disrupts you. If anyone tries to come into that room, they’ll have to go through me.’”