Bride Wears Mom's Dress to Hospital for Dying Grandpa

When doctors told Jim Mahan he had one week to live, his granddaughter Alexis Cowan knew she couldn't wait for her Valentine's Day wedding. She brought the celebration to him instead.

Cowan, 25, had planned for Mahan to walk her down the aisle at her February 14 wedding in McKinney, Texas. But just days before the ceremony, the 75-year-old was diagnosed with acute leukemia and hospitalized at Medical City Dallas.

On February 3, Cowan surprised her grandfather by visiting him in her mother's wedding dress from 1999. "He was so happy to see me in my mom's dress," Cowan tells PEOPLE. "He was emotional and just in awe."

Video clips from the surprise show Cowan taking a tearful moment in the bathroom before entering her grandfather's room. Mahan recognized the gown immediately, then hugged his granddaughter from his hospital bed while gently patting her back.

"Thank you Jesus for this beautiful memory," Cowan wrote on Instagram. "I share this because it is part of life."

Mahan died five days later on February 8. Cowan married Jeremy Foster, 23, less than a week after losing her beloved grandfather.

The bond between Cowan and Mahan ran deep. "I was his shadow," she says. "A pageant queen whose favorite toy growing up was a wrench or some sort of tool."

Mahan was a classic car collector who could fix almost anything with his hands. He taught Cowan how to ride a bike, tie her shoes, and change a tire.

Sunny's Take

This moment captures something precious about love: it doesn't wait for perfect timing. When Cowan realized her grandfather couldn't make it to her wedding, she didn't mourn what couldn't be. She created what could.

The choice to wear her mother's wedding dress added another layer of family connection to the moment. Three generations came together in that hospital room through fabric, memory, and presence.

Cowan's grief is real, but so is her gratitude for the memory they created together. Sometimes the most meaningful ceremonies happen in the most unexpected places.

Love finds a way, even when time runs short.