As Becky Turney prepared to walk down the aisle, it pained her to know that her late son, Triston, wouldn’t be there to witness the special day. So on the day of the wedding, she saved an empty seat for him at the ceremony in Paradise Alaska.
What Becky did not expect to see was a guest, showing up at her wedding out of the blue and leaving her in tears in the middle of the ceremony.
“Everything was normal,” Becky said about how the day began. She had no idea about the big surprise brewing began her back. “I walked down the aisle with my dad and he handed me over to Kelly,” she said. “That was all normal.”
Right after Becky walked down the aisle, her groom named Kelly abruptly hit the brakes on the ceremony. “He started walking back down the aisle, towards the crowd,” Becky told Mirror. “I was like, ‘What are you doing? We’re getting married right now!'”
Kelly took over and addressed everyone at the venue as he spoke about Becky’s late son, Triston. The groom mentioned that they had left a seat especially for Triston, who passed away in 2015 at the young age of 19.
Kelly also revealed that Triston was an organ donor and that his organs saved the lives of five different people. He then announced that one of those recipients was right there at the venue with Triston’s heart beating inside his chest.
Hearing those words left Becky in absolute shock.
“At that moment, I just lost it,” she said. “If my brother-in-law hadn’t been holding my hand, I would have fallen down.” The special guest, Jacob Kilby, then walked up to Becky and met her in person for the very first time.
Before the wedding, Becky and Jacob had exchanged letters and even spoken to each other over the phone for Becky’s birthday that year. But it was only at her wedding when they finally met face-to-face for the first time, and Becky was able to listen to her son’s heart still beating strong.
“It was the most amazing moment of my life,” Becky recalled. “I threw my arms around him and told him that it was the greatest gift in the world.”
When she spoke about listening to her son’s heartbeat, Becky added, “It was amazing. Jacob asked me if I wanted to hear Triston’s heart. It was his heart and it was beating so strong. I was saying, ‘This is so amazing, that’s Triston’s heart.’ It was emotional.”
After meeting Jacob at her wedding to Kelly in 2017, Becky was able to spend more time with the young man, whose life was saved with her own son’s heart. “I had no reason to think he would be at my wedding,” Becky said back then. “A lot of healing happened this week.”
Becky, who is also a mother to children, Chase, Maddy, and Paige, is glad that she had the chance to meet the recipient of her son’s heart. “Our only boy passed,” she said. “He saved five people’s lives and I want to meet every single one of them.”
For anyone considering organ donation, Becky had only one message to give: “Just do it… it saves lives and changes lives.”
Cover image source: NBC News/YouTube
