Butler man makes special proposal after cancer recovery
Butler native Christopher Musati, 34, knew exactly what he wanted to do as soon as he rang the bell to signal the end of his treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma.
With the help of staff members at the AHN Cancer Institute in Butler, where he was being treated, he made a dramatic and well-choreographed proposal to his girlfriend — and now fiancee — Amber Richmond of Summers County, West Virginia, who he said saved his life in more ways than one.
“If it wasn’t for her, I honestly don’t think I’d be here,” Musati said. “Or even if I was here, I wouldn’t be doing too good.”
On March 25, Musati completed his 12th and final round of chemotherapy treatment over a six-month period. That day, nurses and other staff members dressed in tuxedo T-shirts and brought confetti cannons to aid in the spectacle. After Musati rang the bell, he immediately dropped to one knee and popped the question to Richmond, who made the four-and-a-half hour drive from West Virginia.
“During the proposal, everyone cried,” said Tara Geibel, a nurse at the cancer Institute. “I cry just watching the video of it.”
Musati said when he confided to nurses his plans to propose to Richmond shortly before the end of his treatment, they were ecstatic, and word spread quickly through the staff.
“A couple of treatments prior (to the last one), I had told one of my nurses that I was planning on proposing,” Musati said. “One nurse got so excited, and it spread like wildfire.”
“He told me that he planned on proposing to his girlfriend his very last day of treatment, whenever he rang the bell,” said AHN Cancer Institute nurse Angela Taylor. “We were all excited about that. And then Tara had the good idea that we should wear tuxedo T-shirts.”
Musati’s life was turned upside down during the summer of 2025, when he noticed a strange lump in his throat. Despite pleading from Richmond to have the lump checked out by a doctor, Musati was determined to stay away from a hospital for as long as possible.
“I was of the firm belief that, ‘If I just ignore it, it’ll go away. That way I don’t have to go to any hospital,’” Musati said. “It was worrying me, but I was like, ‘If I ignore it, it’ll go away.’”
Earlier in his life, he witnessed his father nearly lose his life to an ultra-rare blood disorder called hemophagocytosis, a hyperinflammatory condition which created complications that led to the loss of his legs and multiple fingers.
“Basically, it attacked his white blood cell count. They had him on so many heart medications trying to keep his heart pumping that it caused gangrene in his hands and feet,” Musati said. “So he ended up having to get his legs and most of his fingers amputated. I was terrified of hospitals because of everything I saw my dad go through.”
Despite his misgivings, Richmond insisted that Musati get examined by a doctor — a decision he credits with ultimately saving his life.
“Amber finally sat me down one night and was like, ‘Honey, listen to me. You need to go get that checked out. I’m serious,’” Musati said. “And she kind of forced me to go get it checked out. To this day, I will still say that she quite literally saved my life.”
Ultimately, Musati gave in and had his mysterious lump examined by his primary care physician, who confirmed his worst fears — stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.
“I was scared out of my mind, to be honest,” Musati said. “You hear the word ‘cancer’ and your first thought goes to, ‘Oh my God, I'm on my deathbed.’ I was losing my mind.”
However, he said had he not listened to Richmond and continued to delay seeking treatment, his situation may have become irreversible, and he may not be alive right now.
“They told me that if I wouldn’t have gotten it checked out, it could have gotten a lot worse and developed into leukemia,” Musati said. “It was a good thing I got it checked out when I did, because they caught it early enough that I was able to get the chemo started fairly quick. I thank Amber for that, because if it wasn’t for her forcing me to go get it checked out, I’d probably be either dead or dying right now.”
Throughout the treatment process, Richmond — despite living nearly five hours away — found time to visit Musati whenever she could, and also made frequent contact with him via video chat.
“Amber was actually with me at that very first appointment where they were talking about all this,” he said. “She managed to calm me down and was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s not as bad as you think. We’ll get through this.’”
Musati also credited the staff at AHN Cancer Institute for making his cancer treatment process bearable.
“The entire experience at the cancer center was absolutely unbelievable,” he said. “All my nurses down there ... I couldn’t have asked for anybody better. They were some of the best nurses, if not the best people, I’ve ever met. It was a crappy thing to go through, but it was a wonderful experience because of the people I went through it with.”
“He has a really big personality, and we all just fell in love with him instantly,” Geibel said. “He was handed a pretty heavy diagnosis at a young age and he handled it. He did so good, and he was always so positive and so fun.”
