Nonprofit makes wedding wish come true for couple facing challenges
It didn’t take long for northwest-area resident Christopher Aguilera to fall head over heels for Jennifer Flanagan.
Their mutual attraction went beyond their physical attributes and merged into their past as military veterans. The trail of challenges left behind earned them the distinction of being the first couple of the year to be gifted with a complimentary wedding, courtesy of the nonprofit Wish Upon A Wedding Las Vegas.
“Their lives will never be the same,” said Adam Frazier, Las Vegas chapter president. “Being military veterans and survivors of a really hard battle has altered their life forever. Our goal is to help couples by taking off the financial burden and stress of planning a wedding.”
The nonprofit grants weddings to couples who qualify as having a serious life-altering circumstance and face serious challenges.
Aguilera and Flanagan, who both deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, fall into that category.
Aguilera spent 22 years in the U.S. Air Force.
On June 9, 2010, his aircraft was flying to pick up a wounded British Marine in the British base in Sangin, southern Afghanistan, when it was hit in the tail rotor by a rocket-propelled grenade, Aguilera said.
The helicopter went into a spin and smashed into the ground.
Upon impact, four members of the six-person crew died, leaving Aguilera crushed in the burning wreckage. The crew’s air support, Pedro 67, landed quickly under heavy fire and was able to rescue Aguilera and co-pilot David Wisniewski, who later died.
“I have severe PTSD and survivor’s guilt,” Aguilera said. “Although I was able to fend off the enemy, I lost five friends.”
Aguilera suffered broken bones, severe burns, moderate brain injury, and over the course of 20 surgeries, he lost his lower left leg and experienced partial amputation of his right leg.
The couple found each other on match.com last November, shortly before Flanagan’s subscription was to expire.
They met for coffee a few days later and felt an instant connection.
“After talking with her, I could tell she was very eloquent and patient,” Aguilera said. “She has all of the qualities I’ve ever wanted in a woman. It feels like I’ve known her for years. It didn’t take me very long to completely fall in love with her.”
As a U.S. Navy veteran who served for five years, Flanagan also deals with non-combat PTSD.
“We know each other’s triggers and understand when one is having an episode,” Flanagan said.
“She can easily calm me down. She’s become my anchor,” Aguilera added. “And if she’s feeling overwhelmed, we stop everything and hold each other. We understand each other in a way that only someone who has gone through a traumatic experience can understand.”
Wish Upon a Wedding is open to unmarried applicants, regardless of sexual orientation, who are 18 or older, legal U.S. citizens, with one individual who has been diagnosed with less than five years to live. Special circumstance wishes are also available for couples as well as renewal of vows for married couples.
In addition, bedside services are available at hospitals and hospices, granting couples a final wish before one of them dies.
Since opening the Las Vegas chapter in September 2010, Frazier said the nonprofit has done approximately one wedding a year but has the capacity to do more.
“We’ve had couples apply and back out because they begin to feel self-conscious about receiving something of this magnitude,” Frazier said. “They don’t want to take it away from someone else who really needs it, but the wish-granting community is so passionate about gifting services in need. Couples need to remember that they were chosen for a reason.”
For those facing a life-threatening disease, the nonprofit is able to grant weddings as quickly as six weeks.
The couple is set to marry later this month at the Siena Golf Club.
“I can’t put it into words the amount of gratitude I have for everyone who is working with us to make this wedding possible,” Flanagan said. “It takes a lot of the financial burden off of us because there’s no way we could afford a wedding of this magnitude.”
For more information, visit wishuponawedding.org/las-vegas.
To reach North View reporter Sandy Lopez, email slopez@viewnews.com or call 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.