Jeff Nabors knew the impact of COVID-19 would kill him after the coronavirus worsened an existing medical condition, so the 62-year-old married his girlfriend of 17 years, 53-year-old Sherry Nabors.

“I think he was on borrowed time already,” Sherry, a bookkeeper, told TV station WLOX at her Gulfport home on Tuesday, nearly a month after the couple were married.

The couple had been next-door neighbors in Houston and met in 2007 when Jeff, a service engineer, rescued Sherry from a broken garage door, according to WLOX. They maintained a long-distance relationship between Atlanta and Gulfport for two years before settling in Gulfport.

“We loved the peaceful life here on the coast,” Sherry said. “The no traffic and just the quiet, laid-back life, and we were having a good time.”

Jeff tested positive for COVID-19 on January 11, about a month after the couple got engaged in December. While he was recovering from the virus, he had Stage IV chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and his lungs were too severely destroyed for him to stay alive.

Mississippi has had over 16,000 new coronavirus cases within the past month, with a positivity rate of nearly 12 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University. But Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced on March 2 he would end the statewide mask mandate.

“Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed,” Reeves tweeted. “It is time!”

The battle with the virus contributed to Jeff’s declining health, so the couple chose to hold their wedding at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport.

“It wasn’t what we had in mind,” Sherry said. “It wasn’t ideal, but at that moment it was. It was very special.”

Hospital chaplain Martin Gilliland said that nurses made congratulations signs and that a florist was ordered to provide flowers, according to WLOX. The couple’s combined six children and 12 grandchildren tuned in via Facebook to the ceremony, which Sherry described as “touching,” beautiful" and “perfect.”

“Everybody was there,” Gilliland told WLOX. “What’s amazing about this hospital, and what’s so beautiful about the people that work here, is the night shift stayed. The nurses, respiratory therapists, doctors came. The day shift was there.”

He added that there wasn’t a “dry eye” in the room by the end of the ceremony. The chaplain spoke on behalf of Jeff, who was unable to speak and shook his head to say “I will.”

The following Sunday, Jeff’s breathing “wasn’t right,” Sherry said, and he was struggling to inhale and exhale. He had a do not resuscitate order, which prevents extreme efforts to keep a person alive, so the doctors put him on comfort care.

“I was sitting on his bed, and I had my head down, crying,” she told WLOX. “And I heard him say my name, he said it twice. And I popped my head up and I looked at him, and he was looking at me and I said, ‘I’m right here, baby, I’m right here.’ I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ and he closed his eyes. He shook his head and closed his eyes. And he didn’t open his eyes again.”

Jeff and Sherry Nabors shared the same birthday.

Newsweek reached out to Memorial Hospital for comment but did not hear back before publication.