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LVH News
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.”
This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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