They're Nurses...And Wedding Planners!

Nicole Valente glided down the Burn Center hallway in an ivory wedding gown and on the arm of physician assistant Chad Roarabaugh. As Canon in D played, she passed her fiance’s caregivers. As she approached her husband-to-be, Jack Crincoli, in his hospital bed, her beaming smile never revealed the devastation they had endured.

In March, while they were planning their wedding, fire ripped through the couple’s Alpha, N.J., apartment, taking the lives of three of their children (1-year-old Ashley, 2-year-old Sydney and 5-year-old Jack Jr). Crincoli, 30, heroically saved their youngest, Nicholas, now 1. The baby was unharmed, but Crincoli suffered third- and fourth-degree burns on 83 percent of his body.

Crincoli had been in the Burn Center for a few months when he told Valente, 29, and his caregivers he wanted to get married. With a long, hard recovery ahead, he was in no condition to leave the hospital. So, staff ordered cake, made food and favors, designed invitations and decorated with Valente’s favorite color, purple. “We’ve had babies delivered here, but this is our first wedding,” says director Jackie Fenicle. “Sharing a happy moment is special.”

The couple and about 30 guests packed a small patient room. Jack was dressed in a shirt and tie that had to be draped over him to avoid burns on his back. Over the whirring respirator, Barbara Rutt, pastoral care manager, led the ceremony. Crincoli whispered his vows, as Valente stroked his face, spared from burns. When it was time to kiss, Nicole turned to Sigrid Blome-Eberwein, M.D., and asked, “Are we allowed to do this?” Without hesitation, Blome-Eberwein, said, “Oh, yeah.”

Valente stays in an apartment in Whitehall to be close to her husband. Once a week, she brings Nicholas to visit. “Jack doesn’t remember a lot, but he knows he brought Nicholas out of the fire,” Valente says. “He lights up like a Christmas tree when he sees Nicholas.”

When Crincoli is able to go home, he and Valente plan to have a large Italian wedding celebration. Until then, “this is my second home,” Valente says. “Every one has cried with me and hugged me. They are my family, too.”

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