Groom Suddenly Dies from Sepsis Less Than 4 Months After Boston Wedding

A Boston couple’s marriage was cut abruptly short after the groom’s tragic death — but in her grief, the bride is honoring her husband’s memory and the love they shared.

Katherine McCord and Bill Adam met by chance. McCord, a Boston native, set her Bumble profile to view matches within just one mile, and Adam — from Peabody, about 30 minutes outside the city — happened to be nearby.

They matched in March 2023 and quickly felt a connection. Not long after, they met for their first date.

By the end of 2023, Adam moved in with McCord. A few months later, in June 2024, he proposed.

Their wedding in September 2025 was surrounded by family and friends and filled with love. The evening felt like a celebration of two lives coming together. Adam later described their relationship as something that felt natural from the very beginning — easy to share time together in every stage, from friends to partners to husband and wife.

McCord said it didn’t take long before it felt like they had known each other forever.

The couple had applied to be featured in a wedding column and met with writer Meredith Goldstein on New Year’s Eve in 2025 for an interview. Together, they looked back on their relationship — from matching on Bumble to their early dates, meeting each other’s loved ones, and celebrating their wedding.

Later that day, they planned to meet friends for a New Hampshire ski trip, but Adam mentioned an unusual feeling in his body, like a pulled muscle. They decided to delay travel until New Year’s Day.

Hours into the new year, his condition suddenly worsened. McCord performed CPR as he became unresponsive. He was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he later died of sepsis, surrounded by his family.

The loss stunned everyone close to them. At first, McCord’s family told Goldstein they wouldn’t be able to continue with the planned feature. But weeks later, McCord reached out, saying she wanted to share their story to keep Adam’s memory alive.

She wrote that while it wasn’t the story they expected to tell, she hoped the piece could honor him and the love they shared — and recognize that not every love story ends the way people imagine.

Now, McCord is leaning on her family as she moves through grief. She said she wishes she could skip ahead to the part where the pain isn’t so overwhelming, but she also feels grateful for how deeply she was loved.