A smiling Feng Ying rests in her Zhengzhou hospital bed, with a wedding gift from a stranger. [Photo by Xiang Mingchao/China Daily]

The unlikely Olympian

Sichuan in stitches

Feng Ying's wedding day was different from most. An ambulance followed the wedding party to the event. Nurses checked her blood pressure three times during the day. If the bride had not felt very well, they would have stopped the wedding at any time.

"Luckily, the checkups were OK," says Feng.

Feng had dreamed many times about her wedding, but meeting her Mr Right at her "unlucky" moment and getting married during what were potentially her final days on Earth, was not part of the fantasy.

"I'm so lucky to fall in love with my husband, and I give my sincere thanks to all the warmhearted people for attending my wedding," the 23-year-old bride suffering from glioma, a type of brain tumor, said at the March 2 ceremony in Zhongmou county of Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan province.

It is a love story that has moved many people. Hundreds had gathered spontaneously at a hotel, which was provided to them for free, to encourage this brave woman and send their best wishes to the bride and her groom, Yang Haibin.

"Originally, I thought people were waiting for a show or something," Feng says happily.

At about 5:20 am, after a transfusion session in a local hospital, Feng washed her face and got ready to go home with the help of her parents and friends, to prepare her makeup and wedding dress for the big day.

"I was too excited to sleep that night. I just slept about two hours," Feng says.

When her husband, 24-year-old Yang, carried her on his back downstairs, Feng says she felt like the happiest bride in the world.