AMES, Iowa (KCCI) – A dying father said he wanted nothing more than to walk his daughter down the aisle for her wedding. He got his wish.

John Sheldahl tried to hold back tears when he saw his daughter in her wedding gown for the first time inside his hospital room. Sheldahl has stage four lung cancer. Doctors originally gave him eight months to live. That was three years ago.

Knowing time is precious, nurses at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Iowa started planning.

The wedding had everything from cake and flowers to decorations on the hospital’s rooftop terrace.

“God orchestrated it because we couldn’t plan things like this,” The groom Dennis Atkinson said. “Dad was strong enough to walk [the bride], and that’s a good day.”

“It was real special,” Sheldahl said.

The groom Dennis Atkinson, now a Mason City, Iowa resident, grew up in Benton County.Copyright 2015 WLFI