"Bound by Love and Disability, and Keeping a Vow Until the End"
At age seven, Edwin Morales met Noemi Rivera. Three decades later, sitting in a Szechuan restaurant on the Upper West Side, he slipped a ring on her finger. Both families opposed a marriage, and nature itself seemed lined up against them. They used wheelchairs because of cerebral palsy and needed help taking care of themselves. Still, Mr. Morales said, “We made a promise we weren’t going to leave each other again.” Dr. Gabrielle Goldberg, who took care of Ms. Morales at The Mount Sinai Hospital, said: “Edwin is like a 10-year-old who tries to act like what he thinks a man should be. But he was doing it better than any man could.” As her health declined, Noemi announced that she wanted to be married in the Roman Catholic Church. By then, they were being seen by Dr. Ana T. Blohm of a visiting doctors program at Mount Sinai, a team that included a nurse, Colleen Buckshaw, and social worker, Edith Henriquez. They made actual house calls and solved problems. Ms. Henriquez set up a baptism, communion and confirmation for Edwin and then the wedding.
- Dr. Gabrielle Goldberg, Assistant Professor, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
- Dr. Ana Blohm, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
- Edith Henriquez, Social Worker, The Mount Sinai Medical Center
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