Source: Ascension St. Vincent
INDIANAPOLIS–A man from New Castle in a hospital with both second and third degree burns recently asked his girlfriend to marry him. She said yes.
Chris Doyen and his girlfriend Erika Tollett were standing near a campfire in New Castle when a gas can exploded back in April and injured Doyen. Tollett got him to the Burn Unit at Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis as fast as she could. He has recovered. Doyen said the decision to propose to Tollett in the burn unit made sense since the time there together prepared them to always be together “in sickness and in health.”
“The staff, yeah, they pushed me pretty hard. I don’t want to be here, so I want to be back home,” said Doyen with a smile.
Doyen felt the proposal in the burn unit was also the right time, especially given all that Tollett has been through.
“Because we’ve gone through this together, I think we’ll continue to go through it together. And being able to be here as he goes home. It’s perfect,” Tollett said as she laughed.
While Chris heals, kneeling is difficult for him. The Burn ICU staff created and decorated a special padded stool for him to kneel on in order to propose. The staff swapped out the medical equipment for balloons, streamers, photos of the couple, paper lanterns, confetti, and gold letters spelling “I Love You.”
“For him to go from his injury to leaving the hospital in under 50 days is quite remarkable. He’s done a great job of following the program and getting healed up and our team has done a remarkable job getting him back and healthy and actually discharging him from the hospital today,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs, Director of the Ascension St. Vincent Burn Unit.
Doyen was discharged from the hospital Friday and is recovering at home with Tollett, who’s now his fiance.
