Woman Gets Shocking Brain Tumor Diagnosis Before Her Wedding. What Her Family and Friends Did Next Left Her in Tears (Exclusive)

After Ashley Macholz and Bryan Lewis got engaged in 2023, the couple agreed that they wanted to have a long engagement and take some time to save up for their wedding. They were eyeing a 2026 date and just beginning to look into venues when life suddenly threw them a serious curveball.

Back in April, Macholz, 30, began experiencing some unusual symptoms, including difficulty hearing and a feeling in her left ear like she was “underwater.” When she went to an urgent care center in early September, she was diagnosed with a dysfunctional eustachian tube and advised to use antihistamines and nasal sprays.

However, as the months went on, her hearing continued to worsen. “It felt like there was liquid sloshing around behind my eardrum, I was sleeping at least 10 hours and I had a constant headache,” she recalls to PEOPLE.

Then, one day, Macholz woke up to find her left ear swollen and painful to the touch. “It felt like a balloon,” she says.

She went to the ER in Sonora, Calif., on Sept. 27, and doctors quickly ruled out an ear infection. Considering the possibility she might have a bone infection, they had her undergo a CT scan.

After the scan, she was led to a room, and nurses “immediately started to put a bunch of very serious gear all over” her and placed an IV. She “made a joke to them about how that wasn’t a good sign,” and remembers the nurses “catching each other’s eyes.”

“All of the signs were that something was incredibly wrong, but my brain was also very swollen at this point, so my detective skills weren’t functioning at their best,” Macholz says.

When she later reconvened with her doctor, “his vibe was very different,” she remembers. He told her she had a tumor in her brain and needed surgery urgently.

“My first reaction was that I didn’t believe him,” Macholz says. “It took a second, but when he told me that I should call to tell my fiancé, I finally accepted the seriousness of the situation.”

When Lewis, 33, arrived at the hospital, he had a bold proposal for Macholz: The couple should get married before her surgery, which was scheduled for Oct. 1.

“With such an uncertain future and so many risks involved with brain surgery, we agreed that it was time we legally bind ourselves not only to share our special and happy moment with our family and friends, but also so that he could make decisions on my behalf on the off chance that something went wrong,” Macholz explains.

They decided on Sept. 30 for the wedding, giving them less than three days to pull it all together.

“It was crazy, but we made the decision and we committed to it,” Macholz says.

The couple called their family and friends to deliver the news of both Macholz’s diagnosis and their spur-of-the-moment wedding plans. The bride’s sisters, Zoë and Shelbi, immediately “went into high gear.” They started looking for a wedding dress for Macholz, sending her screenshots of options that could be shipped overnight.

Macholz’s family arrived in California the day before the wedding, and Shelbi quickly found a florist willing to do a rush order for a bouquet and boutonnieres. Shelbi, a talented photographer, also brought her camera to shoot the wedding for her sister.

Macholz’s best friend, Elena, drove through the night from San Diego, bringing a veil she had spent hours hand-making. Her sister-in-law, Katie, stepped in to do her bridal glam and make her “feel like an actual princess,” and her father’s girlfriend, Kenzel, gifted her with “I Do” slippers, a bridal robe and a red velvet wedding cake.

As soon as Lewis’ childhood best friend, Rome, heard the news, he got certified to be a wedding officiant. The night before the ceremony, Zoe and Lewis took Macholz’s engagement ring for sizing and visited multiple pawn shops and ring stores in the area to find her a wedding band.

Despite the short notice, more than 30 of the couple’s loved ones traveled from all over to be there for the occasion. “Distance did not matter, and those who couldn’t physically make it were there in spirit,” Macholz says.

Due to being at significant risk of having a stroke or seizure, Macholz needed special permission to leave the hospital’s neurological floor. She was given a two-hour pass for the wedding

The ceremony took place in the hospital’s small chapel, and it was standing room only as everyone packed into the space to watch the couple exchange vows. “The love and support were tangible,” Macholz recalls. “The waterworks were hard to avoid. There were happy tears, sad tears. It was lovely, raw, real and genuine.”

Macholz and Lewis had always dreamed of saying “I do” surrounded by redwood trees, so they were amazed to discover a serendipitous detail inside the chapel: stained glass depicting a waterfall and redwoods. “That made it feel like it was exactly where we were supposed to be,” Macholz notes.

Following the emotional ceremony, the newlyweds and their guests gathered outside in the hospital’s courtyard for a little celebration. “We took pictures, ate cake and laughed,” Macholz recalls. “The day was truly magical.”

Macholz shared her story in a viral TikTok, writing, “I never imagined that getting married in a hospital would be so romantic.” The video has garnered more than half a million views.

Reflecting on their wedding, she says she and Lewis are “forever grateful” to their family and friends for “dropping everything” and showing up “physically, mentally and spiritually” to help make their spontaneous idea a reality.

“Our community held us up in such a time of need. It was really a beautiful feeling,” Macholz says.

And for the couple — who met as students at Ohio State University in 2017 and got engaged six years later during a tour of the Ha Giang Loop in Asia — Macholz’s health crisis was a powerful testament to the notion of “in sickness and in health.”

Macholz says Lewis stepped up for her in so many different ways, big and small.

“For weeks, this man was at my side no matter what. He slept sitting up in uncomfortable chairs at my bedside for 18 days in the hospital,” she says. “He comforted me, cried with me and made me laugh even when things were tough. He was stronger in the situation than I would have been, and I know that we can get through any situation, any crisis, as long as we have each other.”

Lewis says it was Macholz who was the strong one of the pair. “Ashley had the hard part. I just did what any good partner would do: support and care for their partner. She’s always done the same for me,” he tells PEOPLE.

After an unexpected hospital delay, Macholz successfully underwent brain surgery on Oct. 8. She had a mastoidectomy to remove the tumor and affected tissue and bone. A surgeon then reconstructed that area of her skull base. A biopsy later determined she had a non-cancerous solitary fibrous tumor.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“It was such a relief,” she says of the news. “This is the best-case scenario in my situation, and I am forever grateful that everything worked out the way that it did.”

Once she has fully recovered from surgery, she and Lewis plan to take a honeymoon in Japan. On the itinerary? “Great food, my lifelong dream of visiting ceramic villages (I am a ceramic artist), fishing, hiking, hot springs, and spending time slowly exploring new places with each other,” Macholz says.