A CANCER sufferer’s last wish - to get married to her partner of 34 years on the ward in which she’s received care - was granted by Barnsley Hospital last Friday.
Jayne Nuttall, 53, has advanced metastatic breast cancer - something which has spread to her lungs - but she wanted to tie the knot with long-term partner Kim Crooks, 62, before it was too late.
She had been in hospital on ward 30 and told nurses that she didn’t want to die a spinster.
So, in just two days, staff organised the ceremony on the ward with all the trimmings including flowers, music, chocolate cake and white balloons.
The couple, who live in Houghton Road, Thurnscoe, were married by a registrar in front of their friends, family and nursing staff who care for Jayne.
Wearing a floral outfit and a flower in her hair, Jayne bravely went down a makeshift aisle in her wheelchair and with her oxygen tank.
Staff had decorated the wheelchair with roses and pink carnations.
The guests shed tears as Kim placed the ring on Jayne’s finger and they exchanged vows which said: “My friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with and love.”
Among the guests were Jayne’s mum and dad, Bettie Nuttall, 78, and Ernest, 90, from Mexborough.
Bettie said: “I think it’s been wonderful. With all the hard work the staff do I don’t know how they found time to organise everything.”
Bettie said Jayne, a former clerical worker, first met Kim when she was still at school and she used to get on the bus driven by Kim.
Bettie added: “Jayne was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 23. They thought she was cured after treatment but then the cancer came back in her other breast.
“She had a mastectomy and three lots of chemotherapy but the cancer spread to her lungs.
“She and Kim chose not to have children because a baby could have been affected by the treatment.
“Jayne is so brave and never complains about any pain.”
After the wedding ceremony, the couple had a toast and cut their cake on a table decorated with red foil and chocolate hearts, under a homemade sign on the hospital wall saying ‘Just Married’.
Kim thanked everyone for coming, especially the staff, saying: “You could have spent £20,000 on a wedding and it wouldn’t have been as nice as this.”
The couple went home after the wedding to enjoy a relaxing ‘honeymoon’.
Jayne said: “We will just enjoy watching TV together. It was a fantastic day and the staff made it all happen.”
Jayne’s doctor, general medical physician Muhammad Mahmood, bought her a wedding bouquet and said it was an honour for him to do so.
He added: “When she came into hospital Jayne was gasping for oxygen and I thought she would not be with us in the next 24 hours, but she is very strong and brave and that psychological strength makes a difference.
“We treat each and every patient as an individual, not as a bed number, and it’s not only medical care that we give to our patients, it’s a holistic view of what’s important to them in their personal lives. Bodies can be parted, but souls can’t.”
