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OGDEN – Arthur Robles didn’t want to wait another day to marry his girlfriend, so he proposed to her from his hospital bed and the two exchanged vows that same day in the chapel with rings donated from the gift shop.

Robles, 31, headed to Ogden Regional Medical Center in August after thinking he might have COVID-19 or Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). He was diagnosed with RSV, but more bad news soon followed.

“I had fluid in my abdomen and my heart was pumping at 12% and they said I have congestive heart failure,” he said. “My liver was inflamed and my kidneys were also failing. I don’t understand what happened because I was healthy and strong as an ox. This just hit out of nowhere.”

Robles was admitted to the hospital so doctors could stabilize his condition. During that time, his girlfriend, Constance, never left his side.

“She put everything to the side to be with me,” he said. “On Dec. 11, I woke up in my hospital bed and saw her sleeping in the recliner chair and I just thought, ‘Man. There is nobody else who would do that for me.'”

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He proposed at that moment and hospital chaplain, Rev. Catherine Tobey married the couple that very day.

“The girls in the gift shop donated these big plastic rings. It was so sweet,” he said. “The whole thing meant so much more to me than a big huge wedding with a thousand guests.”

While working together at American Nutrition, the couple became instant friends and hung out steadily for three years.

“When we started working, I was his boss,” Constance said. “I have seven children and a lot of other responsibilities, so he took over as my boss. We would go to lunch together every day and one day while we were there at the drive-up window, he handed me back my card and I just looked at him in a different way than I ever did before.”

Constance said she was nervous about starting a relationship because she felt it would ruin the friendship if things didn’t work out, but she decided it was worth the risk.

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“I took a chance. You only live once and I was willing to lose the friendship to risk falling in love,” she said.

Robles was released from the hospital earlier this week and said he promptly went out and bought his bride a proper wedding ring.

“It wasn’t about the looks though,” Constance said. “It wasn’t about the cake or the dress or the big fancy wedding. It was just so special and my children absolutely love him. He has brought new life into our home.”

Robles said he plans to fight his health issues and live to be 100 years-old.

“I’m not sure what caused this. Maybe genetics or just a bad luck of the draw. I’m on a lot of medication, but I’m going to beat this,” he said. “I have a lot to live for and I would also like to have a son to carry on my family name because I’m the last one in my family to do so. I’m going to be strong again.”

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