Couple's Wedding Ceremony Was About to Begin. Then the Bride Suddenly Collapsed and Started Convulsing

NEED TO KNOW

• Pennsylvania bride Melissa Kellogg suddenly collapsed and suffered a seizure just 30 minutes before her wedding ceremony was set to begin on April 11

• "I just started convulsing. I went down, hard," she recalled

• She was taken to a nearby emergency room, where the caring staff rallied to save her special day

Just 30 minutes before she was set to walk down the aisle at her wedding, Melissa Kellogg experienced a "scary" medical emergency that landed her in the emergency room.

Kellogg and her now-husband, Derek Graham, both 36, had just finished posing for photos with their wedding party ahead of their ceremony in Radnor, Pa., on April 11, per The Philadelphia Inquirer . The bride-to-be then headed back to her suite at the wedding venue when she suddenly collapsed.

“I just started convulsing. I went down, hard," Kellogg recalled to the outlet.

Kellogg's sister, who has EMT training, helped roll her onto her side as Graham rushed over with his best man, a nurse. By the time parademics arrived, Kellogg had regained consciousness and was transported to Main Line Health's Lankenau Medical Center in the nearby town of Wynnewood.

She underwent a CT scan, and doctors soon determined that she had experienced an isolated seizure, possibly triggered by wedding-day stress, per the Inquirer .

“It was a one-off seizure event from stress, anxiety, dehydration, not sleeping, not eating. It was a perfect storm,” Kellogg said, adding, “It was really scary.”

As Kellogg — who also sustained a large bruise on her forehead from the fall — was stabilized in a trauma bay at the hospital, her mother and sister arrived to be by her side, along with Graham and the best man. At one point, someone joked, "Why not get married in the ER?" and as Graham recalled, "The nurses got really excited about that.

"And we weren’t going to leave the day without getting married," he added.

The ER nurses, who often throw little parties for colleagues celebrating a new baby or birthday, happened to have some decorations tucked away in a supply closet. They set to work, festooning Kellogg's trauma bay with balloons and streamers.

"There’s so many ups and downs in the course of your day. When we saw something positive like this, we want to celebrate it and celebrate them,” registered nurse Emily Eddowes told the Inquirer .

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Graham's brother, the Downington couple's officiant, was called to the ER to oversee the impromptu nuptials.

Kellogg and Graham — who met on a dating app in 2019 and got engaged in 2024 — had spent a year planning their original wedding, inviting 82 loved ones, some of whom traveled to Pennsylvania from as far away as Ireland.

While their big day turned out much differently than they had envisioned, they told the Inquirer that it was "wonderful" nonetheless.

“I went from having one of the scariest moments of my life to having the happiest moment of my life — getting married. Even if it was in the hospital,” Graham said.

He continued: “You do all this planning to have one special day. But just because it doesn’t go the way you planned doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be the happiest day of your life."

Following Kellogg's health scare, the two have some wise advice for other soon-to-be-married couples.

“Eat on your wedding day,” Graham said, as Kellogg chimed in, “Drink water."

Read the original article on People