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Preston and Tanesha Cobb of Georgia were planned to marry on July 22, but terrible injuries sustained by the groom-to-be while at work on June 30 nearly derailed their wedding.
“I was like, ‘Man, she’s not going to want to marry me,’” Preston said in reference to Tanesha. “I’m not the same person that asked her to marry me.”
Preston, a veteran ex-soldier, was injured by a chemical spill that burned 32% of his body, according to a GoFundMe page set up for him. Preston was transported to the Augusta Burn ICU following the incident, where he is now on admission and getting medical care.
Preston lost nine of his toes as a result of the chemical spill, and other fingers on his hands were severed or partially removed. “I literally watched the skin from my elbow like detach and literally just go to dust and crumble,” Preston added. “I literally felt like that was going to be the end.”
Tanesha, however, was undeterred by Preston’s illness and decided to marry the love of her life. She has also remained by her husband’s side, exemplifying the “for better or worse” adage.
“There’s nothing that would stop me from marrying him,” Tanesha said. “Nothing. I knew that this day would come. I didn’t think it would be like this. ”The couple also opted to keep the July 22 wedding date, and a JMS Burn Center nurse who overheard them discussing their wedding offered to assist. The idea was also accepted by the pair, prompting the nurse, Mary Cook, and her colleagues to arrange for food, a DJ, flowers, and a venue set up.
“I wanted to give him something positive out of all this negative,” Cook said. “Preston was adamant that he was not going to change his wedding date.”
Preston said his condition did not stop him from “marrying the woman of my dreams.”
Earlier this week, News of Africa had reported that a terminally ill cancer patient in Georgia received his dying dream to marry his lover last week, owing to the assistance of hospital staff. Last November, Alexander Santos was diagnosed with a non-seminoma germ cell tumor, and doctors warned him it was deadly. Despite treatment, the cancer spread to other places of the body from its original location.
