Our Wedding Story
On May 21, 2007, at 35 years- old, I was sitting in a dialysis chair receiving my normal treatment, which at that time, had become something that I had become quite familiar with. You would have thought I would be miserable but I was so happy. I was getting ready to ask the one woman that I loved with my whole heart to marry me. How did it all happen?
In the past two years my life has changed so dramatically and I thank God for all of it. Meeting Danielle happened so subtly that it has reaffirmed my belief that true love is preordained. It has to be because I am told that when Danielle first met me briefly, while hanging out with her sister at the Bryant Park ice skating rink, she didn’t particularly like me. She claimed that she misunderstood my brash, quiet-confidence as arrogance. I wonder how she could have thought that (smile)? I don’t think either of us thought much of that first meeting; however, on other occasions that we were around each other, it was clear that a friendship was developing. Danielle and I shared a love for many things: writing, reading and poetry, which is rare in today’s world. We also shared a spiritual connection. Danielle went to church and had a real relationship with God. I remember our first official date was at my previous church in Harlem - a beautiful landmark church. She endured an off-key choir and an empty sanctuary but that didn’t matter. She found the good in the experience anyway - something she has a knack of always doing. We ate brunch at my favorite Harlem eatery and sat and talked on the benches in St. Nicholas Park. After a few more dates, we shared our first kiss just before I hailed a cab back home on the corner of 84 and 2nd Avenue. This “corner” was the same corner where I proposed to Danielle on her birthday, May 21st.
It is very interesting how God in his infinite wisdom will not give you something without preparing a test so that you can grow into his blessing. This was definitely the case with Danielle and me. The past few years had been very difficult for me. I had suffered a great deal of loss. I had lost my father in 2004. My Mother [March 8, 2008, my mother passed way] was very sick and suffering from dialysis treatment. I had been suffering from a host of complications as a result of juvenile diabetes. One Saturday, I was feeling short of breath. Danielle encouraged me to go to the hospital. She and her sister picked me up and at the hospital, the doctors told me that my kidneys had failed, I didn’t know what to do; but I was not alone. Danielle and our family and friends stood by my side.
I began dialysis and after a few months, treatment became difficult for me. Danielle insisted that she get tested to see if she was a match. Danielle knew about kidney transplants because her mother had donated to her brother a few years back. I was against Danielle donating to me. I did not want to risk her health in the process. Danielle got tested anyway and to our surprise she was a match—a true, statistical miracle! Almost one year to the date of my kidney failure, after many tests and prayers, Danielle donated her kidney and gave me a new chance at life. On June 28, 2008, we began our new lives together as husband and wife! We made it Babe!
Danielle McGugins & Chris Bennett were married on June 28, 2008. They both attend Trinity Batpist Church in Hackensack, NJ where Rev. Jonathan Whitfield is the Pastor. For more info email us at: dmcgugins@pascack.k12.nj.us
