Elena Volkova called it “divine timing” when an influencer walked up to her and Peter Anthony Napolitano on Oct. 11, 2026, while grocery shopping at North Shore Farms in Port Washington, N.Y.
Keegan Gordon, a South African “kindness” influencer known as BigManKG, typically gives money away to total strangers, and true to form, he gave them $500.
He went a step further once he learned Volkova had been diagnosed with Stage 4 de novo metastatic breast cancer in March 2022, and that Napolitano, her fiancé, had lost his job as an art director at Publishers Clearing House in Jericho, N.Y., in June 2025.
“‘Why don’t we just throw you a wedding?’,” the couple recalled Gordon asking.
Within days, Gordon had teamed up with Wish Upon a Wedding, a nonprofit that organizes weddings and vow renewals for people facing terminal illnesses or life-altering circumstances. Just two weeks later, with 31 vendors donating their services, the couple, who met after becoming neighbors in 2020 in Port Washington, N.Y., exchanged vows. Their celebration marked the group’s 375th wedding.
“I was not looking for a relationship or love,” said Volkova, 42, whose previous marriage ended in divorce in 2021.
Yet things changed that fall, after she found the courage to knock on Napolitano’s door one evening. As they confided in each other about past relationships over glasses of chardonnay, they had their first kiss.
“It was as if I’ve known you my entire life,” Napolitano, 54, told her. (He had ended a previous relationship that year.)
The next weekend, he introduced her to his 1984 Bertram 28 Flybridge Cruiser at the Port Washington Yacht Club. Lunch followed nearby, along with a stranger’s vote of confidence, at the now-closed Waterzooi Brasserie and Oyster Bar.
“A man pulled on my jacket,” Napolitano said, and told him, “‘You won the lottery,’” referring to Volkova.
After the wedding, Napolitano, who grew up in Port Washington and graduated from Paul D. Schreiber High School, began working as a guest services representative at Target in Port Washington.
Born in Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Volkova was raised in Novgorod until she moved to Sea Cliff, N.Y., with her mother around age 10. She graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Russian language and literature from Hofstra University. She also received a Master of Social Work from Hunter College’s clinical program. Volkova, a licensed mentor for several metastatic breast cancer groups, also works virtually part time as a counselor at the Toronto-based Pay What You Can Peer Support.
By November 2021, their relationship had sped along, and Napolitano then began cooking for her and her two sons, Theodore, now 12, and Gabriel, 10. That Thanksgiving, he wowed her with an elaborate home-cooked dinner for two.
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“He is an amazing chef,” she said, “the kids love his chicken cutlets,” to which he added, “My mother taught me well.”
On Christmas Day 2021, she discovered she was pregnant with their daughter, but soon had worsening back problems. She moved into his apartment in early 2022, and that March, after two fractures in her spine, she learned she had Stage 4 breast cancer that had spread to her bones and liver. She then lost the baby in April.
Volkova has spent much of her life defying the odds. Born with a congenital heart defect, the doctors told her mother that she had three months to live. Having survived that prognosis and other challenges, she has always considered herself an “outlier.”
Her relationship with Napolitano had brought its own share of unexpected moments. In September 2022, Napolitano demonstrated his offbeat sense of humor by proposing to her with a moissanite ring after delivering the eulogy at his father’s funeral. Mourners applauded when a surprised Volkova said yes.
In October, a week before their wedding, Napolitano proposed again, this time at the Top of the Rock in New York City, with a real diamond ring, donated by Uneek Jewelry.
“It was a two-week whirlwind of not having to focus on illness,” Volkova said, even as cancer treatments continued days before the wedding with three “very painful” shots at North Shore University Hospital.
On Nov. 1, Peter Boruchowitz, a Universal Life Church minister who runs Our Wedding Officiant NYC, officiated before 50 guests at Rockefeller Center’s 610 Loft and Garden, overlooking St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“I love emerald green, and it’s the perfect season for it,” Volkova said, and it became the mainstay of the wedding color palette, with touches of ivory and gold. At the helm was Xin Huang, a wedding planner who runs Le Petite Privé.
Volkova, whose two sons walked her down the aisle, wore a white faux-fur capelet over a strapless satin gown with a ruched bodice and flair skirt from David’s Bridal. The groom wore a black tuxedo with an emerald green pocket square and tie from Generation Tux.
“Just even seeing my two boys happy at a wedding of all things,” she said, “just lit up my soul.”
The couple’s first dance was to Kina Grannis’s version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” performed by the Jordan Kahn Georgia Bridgwater Orchestra, at the alcohol-free reception, featuring mocktails, and the Russian tradition of “karavai,” or breaking of the bread.
“Whoever breaks the biggest piece is head of the household,” she said, lightheartedly. “I did, absolutely.”
Surprise after surprise included a Lego guest book, a photo booth, and an artist who painted their wedding portrait. But the greatest gift was the opportunity to set aside her uncertain future.
“It was a break for me from thinking about terminal illness,” Volkova said. “A little mini head vacation.”
“I’m most happy just for her,” Napolitano said. “We take it one day at a time and cherish every minute with each other.”
In March, Volkova will reach the five-year life expectancy she was given. “I’m praying that I’m an outlier,” she said.
But for now, she said she is hopeful for “many years as Mrs. Napolitano.”
