Miracle walk down the aisle

Walking their daughter down the isle is something many fathers dream about.

But for one heart failure patient from Omaha, Nebraska, it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to do that on his little girl’s big day.

In March Andre Pearson went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he was treated for severe heart failure.

His heart wasn’t pumping blood.

After numerous surgeries, he was fitted with a ventricular-assist device to help his heart pump blood.

In his frail state, Pearson was in no condition to fly out to Indio for the wedding of his youngest daughter, Alexandra Price.

“I felt that I could do more. I felt that we could do more. And not to be able to walk her down the aisle and not to even be able to stand up and say, ‘I am the one who will give her away.’ I felt that I let her down,” Pearson said.

After being reevaluated, his medical team at the Mayo Clinic decided he was well enough to make the trip to Desert Ridge Estate in Indio, where his daughter was getting married.

“They told me they had a meeting earlier that morning and said that they came up with something so I could see my daughter’s wedding. They told me they were going to fly me out here to California to see the wedding,” Pearson said.

The night before the wedding he gave his daughter the surprise of a lifetime

“I knew he wasn’t coming because I knew the circumstances and everything and I just feel shocked it feels like a dream,” Price said.

“I’m overwhelmed first and foremost. I didn’t expect this to happen. I didn’t expect to be here. But it’s a good feeling to see my daughter. She said she hasn’t seen her dad in two months, which is true because I’ve been in the hospital that long. And I just feel blessed more than anything else and I give God all the glory,” Pearson said.

The next day, Pearson took the walk every father and daughter dream of.

“To be able to march down the aisle with her is going to be overwhelming. Expect to see some tears, tears of joy,” Pearson said. “I got another son now in Jonathan and I praise God for that and I need him in my life and I wouldn’t have another guy be with Alexandra but him and that’s going to be an overwhelming point to see him and her at the altar.”

It was a dream fulfilled for her.

“It was amazing since he wasn’t supposed to be here. It was just amazing to have him sickness and all here and it just made me feel really happy and whole and complete,” Price said.

And a moment he’ll never forget.

“But right now I feel good. I feel like a father who’s doing what he’s supposed to do,” Pearson said.

Pearson plans to continue his dialysis treatment and hopefully return to Omaha soon.

He was initially given a year to live, but is doing well and is waiting to hear if he qualifies for a heart transplant.