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Small blessings
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Melissa Kascask, 28, and husband Chadd Kascsak, 23. Chadd and Melissa were married at Akron Children’s Hospital Tuesday morning.
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HAPPY AND HEALTHY: Melissa Kascask, 28, holds 7-month-old son Hunter, while her son Christian Grubb, 7, left, and husband Chadd Kascsak, 23, look on. Chadd and Melissa were married at Akron Children’s Hospital Tuesday morning, where Hunter, born four months premature, has been since December. The couple said they’d rather get married at Hunter’s bedside than wait and have a large ceremony.
By Elise Franco
For a Niles couple, being married next to the hospital bed of their infant son was more important than having a large, extravagant ceremony without him.
Saying their vows at the bed of their son was more important to Melissa and Chadd Kascsak of Niles than a large, extravagant ceremony without him.
The couple said “I do” Tuesday morning at Akron Children’s Hospital at Hunter Kascsak’s bedside. He was born four months early, on Aug. 22, was 11 inches long and weighed only 1 pound.
“We could have gone down to the courthouse,” Melissa said. “But it was important that even though he won’t remember it, he was there.”
Melissa, 28, said she and Chadd, 23, originally planned to get married last November, but the unexpected news of her pregnancy put those plans on hold.
After his birth, she said Hunter spent four months at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown before returning home in time for Christmas. Two weeks later, the couple took him to Akron Children’s Hospital for oxygen treatments, where he’s stayed ever since.
“Because he was born so prematurely, his lungs were not ready to function, and his eyes were still fused shut,” Melissa said.
She said Hunter’s lungs are damaged because he spent so much time on a ventilator just after birth.
Doctors have told the couple Hunter should be ready to return home around June. Once he is home he will need to be on a ventilator for one year, until he is strong enough to breathe on his own.
Melissa said for this reason she and Chadd are happy with their small ceremony that took place in front of Hunter, her older son Christian Grubb, 7, their parents and other extended family.
“We thought about waiting until he got home, but he’s more prone to infections when he’s outside the hospital,” she said. “The idea of doing a big wedding with a bunch of people was never really practical.”
Melissa, who wore a cream-colored chiffon dress, said the ceremony was short and intimate.
“It was just very nice,” she said. “We had our home pastor come and do the ceremony. The baby did great, and my older son was the ring bearer and gave me away.”
Karen Ballard, hospital chaplain, said all the doctors and nurses working with Hunter helped make the wedding possible.
“This really was an effort of physicians and nurses,” she said. “The whole team collaborated and orchestrated to make this happen the way it did.”
Ballard, who has worked at Akron Children’s for nearly six years, said it’s not common to have bedside weddings inside the hospital.
“I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve done this in the last five years,” she said. “It sure is fun, though, because it’s such a happy occasion, and we like those around here.”
Melissa said she and Chadd felt blessed to have been given the chance to marry while their son looked on.
“It’s wonderful and a blessing,” she said. “It make us even stronger to have completed everything and make it the way we wanted it to in the beginning.”
The couple left Tuesday afternoon for a five-day honeymoon in Las Vegas, where Melissa said they plan to relax. Their parents will take care of both boys while they’re away.
“Realistically speaking we know once he’s home there won’t be a vacation for a very long time,” she said. “We wanted to take the opportunity to decompress and have a few days to ourselves and just try to have those moments.”
efranco@vindy.com