Longtime Vanderbilt patient Quentin Holt marries his high school sweetheart, Narkita Dobson, in the chapel at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Officiating is Regina Proctor. (photo by Susan Urmy)
Hospital wedding comes straight from the heart
Quentin Holt has battled his health since birth, often with a bevy of doctors and nurses by his side — his “Vanderbilt family,” he calls them.
So, it was fitting that they were there to stand by him as he married his high school sweetheart, Narkita Dobson, Friday, Feb. 3, at the chapel at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Holt, 21, and Dobson planned to marry that same day in a civil ceremony at the courthouse. But Holt, who has had two heart transplants since he was 13 months old, ended up at Children’s Hospital earlier in the week. His heart was in rejection, a correctable issue with the right medications.
The same doctors and nurses who have cared for him countless times suggested that he marry at the Children’s Hospital Chapel, an event they would help him realize — with just two days of planning.
“I have been coming here my whole life,” said Holt. “It still shocks me because I have been in this hospital for so long, and that they would do this for me, it’s so generous. They’re my family. I know if I go up to the fifth floor, I would know every nurse, every doctor on the floor. If I go to the sixth floor, I would know every nurse, every doctor. I can’t believe they would do this … be this generous to do this,” Holt said.
At 10 a.m. on Friday, nurses and doctors escorted him from his room to the second floor chapel, with his intravenous fluids and heart monitor in tow. They unhooked him from the machines for one hour to enjoy his special day, including the ceremony and the photos, under their caring watch.
Holt ditched his hospital gown for a pressed white shirt, black slacks, tie and vest. On his feet, perhaps because of the child patient still in him, he donned black converse shoes. He was traditional, asking to wait until he and Dobson arrived at the altar to see each other for the first time that day.
Dobson walked down the aisle to join Holt surrounded by family — their parents, siblings, grandparents and their extended Vanderbilt family all sitting in the chapel pews. Tears rolled down cheeks.
Quentin Holt got to leave his heart monitor and IV rig behind for an hour for his wedding last Friday in the chapel at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. (photo by Susan Urmy)
“Quentin is like one of the family; I have known him since he was a year old,” said Debra Dodd, M.D., medical director of the Pediatric Heart Transplant Program and associate professor of Pediatrics.
“We had to bring him into the hospital this week, and we weren’t able to get him out in time. So, we tried to make it an even better and fancier day than they had planned so they could have some good memories and proceed with the wedding.”
Dodd is optimistic that Holt will get over this hump and will recover.
“He’s been through a lot in his years,” she said. “He’s an incredibly resilient person, and has a wonderful personality. We’re his extended family.”
Holt kisses his bride, Narkita Dobson, after the couple exchanged vows. (photo by Susan Urmy)
Holt’s mother, Brenda Furlow Holt, wasn’t sure she would see the day her youngest child married.
“Today is a marvelous day — something I didn’t think I would be able to see or he would be able to do. With the hospital, his doctors, all the preparation they have made today — it is a glorious day, a glorious day,” Furlow Holt said.
“It was an awesome feeling, to see that so many people care about our son and have supported us through the journey we have been through with them.”
For Holt, he can’t remember feeling this good.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I made sure I was going to stand up for this. She completes me. I know I can make it through anything with her by my side.”