WeddingHowever, a bride dances with her dead father

• 2016

When Jeni's father was murdered ten years ago, Jeni's world collapsed. In 2016, her father accompanied her to the altar - at least a part of him.

In 2006, ten years before Jeni's wedding, Chef Michael Stepien was murdered on the way home. The random robbery of the 16-year-old murderer in Swissvale (Pennsylvania, USA) met Jeni's father, who died at the age of only 53 years in hospital.

Michael Stepien was an organ donor. His organs were donated to the Center for Organ Recovery and Education. Michael was dead - but his heart saved the life of the seriously ill Arthur Thomas.

Arthur Thomas had been waiting for a donor's heart for 16 years. "After receiving my heart transplant, I wrote a letter of thanks to Michael's family, " Arthur told The New York Times . You remain in contact by letter, e-mail and telephone. However, a meeting took place only ten years later: at Jeni's wedding.

In 2015, Jeni, now 32 years old, got a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Paul Maenner. She felt like the happiest woman in the world. But the closer the wedding got to the more precise the wedding planning became, the more Jeni had to think about her father's death. A traditional walk to the altar? Impossible. A father-daughter dance on the wedding day? Locked out.

But then Jeni's fiancee came up with an idea: She could have at least a part of her father on her big day - inviting the man who had her father's heart in her. So Jeni asked Arthur if he would honor her to take her to the altar. The now 72-year-old, who owns a daughter of Jeni's age, agreed - and came to her wedding extra from New Jersey, a 4-hour drive away.

Arthur and Jeni met for the first time one day before their wedding. He offered to hold his wrist - the pulse was strongest there, closest to her father's heart. "I thought that the best way for Jeni to feel close to her father is to have her father's heart beating there, " Arthur told the New York Times .

At the church, on Jeni's wedding day on August 6, 2016, she touched Arthur's chest. At the wedding ceremony after the wedding, they danced together. The video of the dance counts on YouTube about 4.4 million views.

Jenni says, "My father's murder and my wedding took place in a radius of only three blocks, and I was thinking all the time: My dad is here with me, with us - and this man ( Arthur ) is here with us, because of us . "

How the wedding went, Jeni and Paul report on this website. Jeni and Paul got married in the same church where Jeni's parents also once said yes.

The conclusion from Arthur: "It felt wonderful to bring the heart of Jeni's father to the wedding, and I would have walked this far the long way."

The whole Youtube video with the speech of the groom (English) you can see here:

(WW7)