'I nearly died on my wedding day' - How jitters turned out to be deadly condition

Jill was determined to make it down the aisle to wed John. Photo / Facebook, Jill Hawkins

A bride who thought the knots in her stomach were just wedding jitters almost died on her big day after she was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.

Waking up on her wedding day, Jill Hadad Hawkins felt sick to her stomach. Determinedly, she made it down the aisle, managed to pose for a few photos then left her celebrations in an ambulance.

"It's really hard to come to terms with the fact that I could have died on my wedding night," she told WCVB5. "But that's the reality."

Hawkins, 30, from Boston, was suffering from ulcerative colitis, which caused the blood supply to a section of her intestines to be cut off.

Hawkins had suffered from the condition, which causes inflammation in the digestive tract, as a teen. After several surgeries, she was sure it was all behind her.

So when she woke up with a knotted feeling in her stomach on the morning of her wedding, she put it down to nerves.

"I just kind of thought, something feels a little weird, but it's probably just nerves," she said.

But as she proceeded through the big day, the feeling became so intense she could barely stand.

Her husband, John Hawkins, said it was "definitely scary" to see his wife go through such an ordeal, especially on their wedding day.

Dr James Yoo, chief of colorectal surgery at the medical centre where Hawkins was taken, confirmed to WCVB5 that the bride could have died from the twist in her intestines.

"'For this to happen to anybody is a devastating event," Dr. Yoo said. "To have it happen on your wedding day, it's almost unbelievable."

He said he was astonished that she made it through her entire wedding ceremony.

- nzherald.co.nz