DAD DANCING
Daughter videos wedding dance with her dying dad 3 years before her big day – and 2 days before he died of cancer
A DEVOTED daughter filmed her wedding dance with her dying dad three years before her big day.
Meredith Kavanaugh knew her dad wouldn't live to see her tie the knot - two days after their heartbreaking dance, dad Lynn passed away.
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In 2003, Lynn - short for Cornelius - Parnell, from North Carolina, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
After over a decade of battling the disease, on May 2015, his family were told that the cancer had spread to Lynn's liver and he had just weeks to live.
Meredith, who was single at the time, was determined not to be deprived of her dream dance – so she took matters into her own hands.
Now married, the 35-year-old photographer, said: “From the moment I found out about his diagnosis a million questions ran through my head.
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“Eventually my mind wandered to the day I’d get married, and the fact he had to be there for it – he had to walk me down the aisle, he had to dance with me at my wedding; he has to be okay.
“At the time I wasn’t even dating anyone, and as the cancer came back each time it was one of many worries in the back of my mind.
“I think any unmarried girl would have that thought about her father, especially when you were as close as me and my dad were.
“But since my father was battling cancer, I wasn’t sure if it [the dance] would happen, so I spontaneously decided to borrow a wedding dress.
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“I don’t think he realised how special the moment would be until I walked through the door – you can see it on his face in the video.
“That moment is priceless, the whole experience is priceless to me.
“Dad rested all day in order to have the strength to dance with me, and he dance as long as he could before the strength gave out – what a gift.
“I originally planned to film the dance with him on the Sunday [April 5th] but instead, for some reason, I moved it to the Friday.
“Had I waited till the Sunday, it would have never had happened, as he passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning.”
Lynn died on April 5th, 2015, but he still managed to make an appearance at his daughter’s wedding, three-years later.
Solidifying a lifetime bond with her partner, Bryan Kavanaugh, on January 6, 2018, Meredith and her mother, Sue, took turns to dance with each of her brothers – Jared and Jason – to the same song, as the video of her and Lynn played in the background.
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Meredith said: “After my father passed, all of the dad-daughter dances I photographed were always so difficult, because I no longer had mine.
“But I still had my dance and I knew I’d be able to incorporate it at my wedding in my some way and that game me indescribable strength.
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“When my Dad and I were dancing, he told me how proud he was of me and how beautiful he looked – it became very much what it’d be like at my real wedding.
“Having this moment to look back on is more incredible that I could ever put into words.
“At the wedding, there were a few people unable to watch it and excused themselves because it was too emotional.
“It’s a true miracle that I was able to have this moment.";
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