• In the Loop: From a first breath viral video to a walk down the aisle on reality TV

In the Loop patient Jennifer Jones and her husband, Rob Ronnenberg, dancing together at their weddingJennifer Jones and her fiancé, Rob Ronnenberg, never could have imagined their wedding would be televised. But then a viral video caught the attention of reality show producers.


Shortly before they said their "I dos," Jennifer Jones received a special necklace from her fiancé, Rob Ronnenberg. The necklace included three birthstones: his, hers and that of Lacey, a woman they had never met.

That might seem like a strange gift for a bride-to-be. But Lacey, an organ donor whose lungs made Jennifer's walk down the aisle possible, is as essential to Jennifer as the air she can now breathe. The necklace, Rob wrote to Jennifer in a note accompanying the gift, would serve as a beautiful reminder of their connection to each other, an acknowledgement that "Lacey will always be an important part of our lives and I will cherish every day and every breath we have together."

It was a heartfelt, tearful scene made for the movies. Or, for TV. Which is exactly where it played out on Feb. 26, in a ceremony that aired live on "My Great Big Live Wedding with David Tutera." The couple we introduced you to last year caught the attention of the reality show's producers when a video of Jennifer's first breath after her lung transplant went viral. "When they first contacted us, we thought it was a joke," Rob tells us.

Read the rest of the story.

________________________________________________

This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.