One California cop recently stepped in to help a fellow officer’s daughter on her wedding day. According to CNN, bride-to-be Amanda Rabe learned at the last minute that her father, a former police officer in Idaho, wouldn’t be allowed to travel to her California wedding due to his health condition.
Several years ago, Rabe’s father was shot in the line of duty and he still suffers from spinal cord and brain injury as a result. Rabe told FOX40 that her father unfortunately suffers from severe migraines, which can cause him to pass out, and because of his medical condition, she said, he was told he wouldn’t be allowed to fly.
“It’s normal for him,” she said. “We’re very used to it, TSA wasn’t.”
Rabe was devastated. But thanks to a tight-knit law enforcement circle—and Rabe’s mother—they were able to find a solution by putting out a BOLO (“be on [the] lookout”) for a father-of-the-bride stand-in. An hour before the wedding, Rabe got a phone call from her mother.
“‘Hey, I pulled some strings,’” Rabe recalled from her conversation with her mother. “‘I was able to get a hold of some people and they found some people.’ And so she was like, ‘You actually have a chippie walking you down the aisle and your dad is so happy that somebody there can do that for him.”
California Highway Patrol Officer Jake Steel answered the call, and met Rabe just minutes before the ceremony to walk her down the aisle. “A very proud moment,” he told FOX40. “Just knowing I’m there to help somebody out at their magic moment in time.”
Steel even stepped in for the father-daughter dance, a gesture that cause “tears the minute it started,” he said. Rabe was grateful for his kind help, and told FOX40, “He showed up with his two beautiful children. So that was pretty amazing.”
“I was immersed in Amanda’s life for a small moment, yet it seemed like an eternity,” Steel said. The pair will likely keep in touch after their unexpected meeting. “It was absolutely like being taken into a family,” he said. “So it made me feel great for what I did.”
Added Rabe: “It was wonderful to have him there. I don’t think words can ever describe having somebody just completely wrap you in their love and share that moment with you.”
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