Couple that met as children at St. Jude's marry there nearly 30 years later
When it came time to choose a venue, Joel Alsup and Lindsey Wilkerson couldn't imagine holding their wedding anywhere but at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.
Alsup, 38, and Wilkerson, 37, met at the hospital when they were children; Alsup had a bone tumor and Wilkerson was being treated for acute lymphoblastic lymphoma. They became friends in the hospital, and remained in touch until they both went away for college. They reunited years later when both began working at St. Jude's fundraising and awareness organization, the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), and their friendship blossomed into a romance.
The couple wed on Sept. 1, and there were several familiar faces present, including Wilkerson's primary childhood physician, who did a reading, and their St. Jude chaplain, who was the officiant. "To know that just a few hundred feet from where we said 'I do' was literally where our lives were saved meant so much," Alsup told People. He is grateful to be married to "the love of my life," and hopes that their story "lets families and kids battling cancer know that there is life after." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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