The best wedding  gift
By EVA-MARIE  AYALA
Star-Telegram  Dallas Bureau | August 3, 20020

DALLAS - Maria and Juan Merlan  Sr.'s wedding day was more than a dream come true. It was the dying wish of  their 9-year-old son.

Family and friends gathered Friday at Children's Medical Center of Dallas as  the couple were married with Juan Jr. in a wheelchair at their side.

"This is the best gift I could have received from him," the elder Merlan said  through a translator.

Juan Jr. was diagnosed with a mixed-germ cell tumor in November, and doctors  said they don't expect him to live through the weekend. Last week doctors  learned the tumor had spread to his spine, leaving him partially paralyzed.

But, despite his worsening condition, the boy still had a mission.

He recently told a hospice worker that he wanted to see his parents get  married before he died. The couple have been together for about 15 years but  never married. The hospice worker then told Juan Jr.'s doctor, who stirred  hospital staff members into action.

Dr. Bob Bash said many people forget the joys in life when a child is dying.

"They forget how much of that joy belongs to their children, and that's what  this is about - Juan's joy for his family," Bash said. "He wants his family to  be together forever and ever. This shows the incredible gifts our children can  give us, even through their death."

Though it may not have been the wedding day the Merlans imagined, hospital  workers did their best to make the occasion special, getting many items donated  such as the cake and flowers.

Staff members became makeshift wedding coordinators attending to the smallest  details - even honoring certain traditions.

Hospital social worker Amanda Marusak quickly whisked Juan Merlan Sr., 35,  out of his son's hospital room as the bride-to-be got ready to put on her  white-sequined gown.

"He can't see you," she fussed, hurrying to close the door.

Maria Merlan, 32, quietly got ready for the ceremony as her three other sons,  dressed in tuxedos, rushed down hospital corridors carrying a last-minute  delivery - the bridal bouquet.

Merlan said she was happy to be getting married at last. She met her future  husband when she was 16. He was playing soccer at a Dallas park, and the two  began talking.

"I liked everything about him - his sense of humor, the way he was," she said  through a translator.

In the 1990s, they tried to get married in Mexico, but their oldest son, now  14, became ill, and plans were canceled.

But relatives from Mexico were able to attend the ceremony Friday, and the  Clayton Dabney Foundation paid for Juan Jr.'s grandparents to go to Dallas.

Relatives and hospital staff members filled the small hospital chapel for the  traditional Mexican Roman Catholic ceremony, many of them sobbing as they  watched the couple take their vows.

Rosalia Alonzo, Juan's cousin, said the ceremony will be a memory the family  will treasure.

"It was something special. This is what he wanted for his parents - for them  to be married," she said.

Throughout the ceremony, Juan Merlan Sr. held his son's hand tightly.

And, although he was unable to speak because of medication, the boy's eyes  revealed the importance of this final wish.

They were filled with tears.

Eva-Marie Ayala, (972) 263-4448 [email protected]