Bride Walked Down the Aisle by Surgeon Who Saved Her Life Twice: 'This Day Would Not Be Possible Without Him' (Exclusive)

When bride Jenny Tice was ready to walk down the aisle at her wedding, she knew exactly who she wanted by her side: the surgeon who saved her life — not once, but twice.

When Tice was 8 months old back in 1989, she was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare disorder that affects the bile ducts in the liver. The disease can be fatal without a liver transplant, but at the time, the operation was almost never done on children under the age of 2.

Tice was fortunate to be under the care of Dr. Carlos Esquivel, an early advocate for offering liver transplants to sick babies and toddlers. Esquivel, who is chief of the Division of Transplantation at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health in California, performed Tice's transplant surgery, giving her a new lease on life.

Little did Tice know that more than 30 years later, in 2022, the two would cross paths again when the real estate lending executive, now 36, went into the hospital for a surgical revision of the common bile duct, which drains bile from her transplanted liver.

Related: Canadian Doctor Goes Viral on TikTok After Getting Married in Her Scrubs During Lunch Hour (Exclusive)

"Dr. Esquivel walked into the room, and I was nervous because I knew he was the boss of the hospital abdominal transplant program," Tice tells PEOPLE. "He looked at me and said, 'Long time, no see.' "

"I had no working memory of ever meeting this man," she continues. "It took me a good minute to put two and two together that he knew me because he was the one who performed my liver transplant back in 1989 in San Francisco."

Tice says the revision required a very complicated, eight-hour surgery, and she was "confident that could only be handled by someone of [Dr. Esquivel's] skill level."

When Tice got engaged in October to her now-husband, Robert Nathaniel Eberhart, an urgent care doctor, and began planning her wedding, she was certain that Dr. Esquivel needed to be the person who escorted her down the aisle.

"When Nathan asked me to be his wife, my second thought after saying 'heck yes' was that I wanted my surgeon to walk me down the aisle. He is my hero, and he has walked me from almost death to living a full life with the opportunity to fall in love, get married and now soon to be a mother in May," says Tice, who is currently 27 weeks pregnant with the couple's first child.

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.

When the bride-to-be asked Dr. Esquivel to do the honor at her wedding on Jan. 31 in San Francisco, "it was an immediate 'yes,' " she says.

As an acoustic version of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" began to play, the surgeon and his former patient linked arms and prepared for their momentous walk.

"I just remember feeling this calm come over me that is hard to describe. Before I walked down, I remember saying, 'Let's do this,' " she recalls.

"I knew this day would not have been possible if he did not step up to the impossible task of helping very sick babies like me when Dr. Starzl, his mentor, told him to go save the babies," Tice continues. "This day would not have been possible without the hope and the story of my liver transplant."

Related: Bride Says It Was a 'Dream Come True' to Walk Down the Aisle with Her Doctor After Surgery

The moment was equally special and moving for Dr. Esquivel. “It beats any honors I've received along the way [in my career],” he says.

During her wedding ceremony, Tice found two special ways to honor her organ donor. Her bridal party members each carried long-stemmed white roses, and the officiant, Robert's father, read a poignant quote from UNOS (the United Network for Organ Sharing) in remembrance of Tice's donor.

Now, Tice is enjoying married life and looking forward to welcoming her baby this spring. And thanks to Dr. Esquivel's pioneering work all those years ago, her health is "great."

"I have a very high quality of life," she tells PEOPLE. "I have an amazing career and have run two half marathons and still weight lift two times a week."

Inspired by her experience, Tice also spends time volunteering with a nonprofit that works to raise awareness and advance research about biliary atresia, which still has no known cure or cause.

“My story is possible because someone said ‘yes’ to [organ] donation, so I celebrate this gift by sharing my experience in hopes that it will inspire other people and save lives," she says.

Read the original article on People