BUFFALO, N.Y. — Five months after Buffalo Police Officer Marc Hurst was shot six times while responding to a domestic violence call, he celebrated a moment that once seemed far from certain: marrying his fiancée, Haley.
"I'm just so thankful, you know, that we are celebrating our marriage on Friday and my family and my fiancée is not mourning the loss of me," Hurst said in an interview earlier this week.
Hurst was responding to a call about a violent domestic May 26 near Broadway and Sherman Street when he was shot.
"One officer shot. Every available to Sherman," a dispatcher could be heard saying over police radio.
Hurst was struck six times and rushed to ECMC.
One of Hurst's friends in the police department called Haley with the news.
"I was like, 'You need to tell me what's going on,'" Haley recalled. "And he said that Marc had been shot."
At first, she didn't know how serious his injuries were.
"I was obviously freaking out, like, he's been shot everywhere," she said.
Hurst remembers realizing that despite being shot multiple times, he was still breathing and able to think.
"I just remember, and I believe it's just from the Lord, this overwhelming peace," Hurst said.
As he focused on getting out of the house, another thought crossed his mind: his upcoming wedding.
"I remember being down on the ground and focusing on getting out of the house that we were in, but also being like, 'You know what? She's gonna be really ticked off if I miss this wedding.'"
Hurst survived. After six days in the hospital, he walked out on his own as fellow officers gathered to see him leave.
Last month, he received the City of Buffalo's Medal of Honor.
Through it all, Haley has been by his side.
"It's been humbling and emotional," she said. "Even when I would go back and forth from the hospital to get him more clothes and everything that week, like thinking about, 'Oh my God, we still get married in a couple of months, and we almost didn't.'"
Now their wedding day has arrived.
Hurst said surviving the shooting has changed the way he looks at moments that might otherwise seem ordinary, from watching his nieces walk down the aisle to seeing family and friends gathered together.
And then there will be the moment he sees Haley.
"To see Haley coming down the aisle, I can't even put it into words right now, comparing to what could have been," Hurst said. "I'm just so grateful."
For Hurst, the wedding is about much more than celebrating their marriage. It's also a reminder of what he nearly lost.
"Marriage is a gift. Haley's a gift," Hurst said. "I feel undeserving in a lot of ways, and I'm just so, so blessed."
