14 DAY TRIAL // After the special graduation ceremony organized for a Maryland high school student at her terminally-ill mother's bedside so that the woman could witness the important moment in her daughter's life, we learn about another emotional event that happened besides a patient's hospital bed.
This time, a man organized his wedding to his terminally-ill fiancée so that they enjoy a beautiful moment together before it was too late.
Paul Wheatley, from Leeds, has been with his partner Donna for more than 12 years, but they never tied the knot, so when doctors told them that the 36-year-old woman had just weeks, if not days to live, he decided to organize their wedding at her bedside. And with a little help from friends, family and hospital staff, Paul managed to do it in just 24 hours.
“We had been engaged for nine years and wanted to get married abroad, but we just never got round to it. As soon as the doctors told us that Donna didn't have long left, I went immediately down to the registry office to collect the paperwork and start organising,” the 40-year-old man said.
According to the Daily Mirror, Donna was admitted to hospital on Christmas day last year after she suffered severe vomiting. After medics examined her, the woman was told she had kidney and heart problems. She was already suffering from diabetes and her health started to deteriorate three years ago.
However, the family always thought she would get better and although doctors told them her cancer was terminal, the woman never gave up hope. They were given the devastating news that Donna was not going to recover and would never leave the hospital on April 17, 2013, and Paul started planning the wedding immediately.
They were married at Leeds General Infirmary and the couple's nine-year-old son, Kian, was best man. For them, it was the perfect day, with flowers, a buffet, a wedding dress, suits and rings.
“It was an incredibly moving day - everyone was in tears. I helped Kian with his speech and we tried to make it light-hearted to give the wedding a bit of everything,” Paul said. “In the days that followed I did everything I could to keep her spirits up.”
Donna passed away surrounded by friends and family on April 24, only six days after the emotional wedding ceremony. The now grieving husband comforts himself with the thought that he made her partner's last days special.