But sometimes the lowest points clear space for the most unexpected beginnings. In 2020, a friend urged her to try experimental stem-cell therapy in Panama. At her hotel, she met Canadian entrepreneur Stephen Arbib, in town to support a friend. Days later, they crossed paths again in the clinic’s waiting room—and something clicked.
The pandemic soon closed borders, leaving Stephen in Canada and Nikko in California. Distance became its own teacher: Daily phone calls turned into lifelines, their bond deepening through shared hopes and honest conversations. By the time they reunited, Nikko’s health had improved, and their relationship was unshakable.
Stephen understood the reality of MS and what the future might hold. At one point he told her, “I know there may come a day when you need a wheelchair sooner than either of us would like. I have thought about it, and if that day comes, I would be honored to be the one pushing it.” For Nikko, it was love in its purest form, not blind to the challenges but committed despite them.
This summer, they returned to Sicily to celebrate their marriage with three days and four unique events. At the arrival dinner, Nikko wore her mother’s wedding dress, hand-sewn by her great-grandmother in the 1980s and beautifully retrofitted for the evening. “Just a few years ago, I couldn’t walk,” she says. “Now I was running through the streets of Taormina in my mother’s dress—and in heels.”
The wedding itself unfolded at Taormina’s ancient Greek theatre, with Mount Etna erupting in the distance as though nature itself wanted to bear witness.
For Nikko, the celebration was never about a wedding. It was about hope—proof that even after the darkest seasons, love and joy can return in ways more powerful than imagined.
