A cancer patient receiving treatment in a Welsh hospital has married the love of his life in a beautiful ceremony on the ward. Robert Pritchard and his new wife Rose Pritchard have been together for more than 20 years but had previously put getting married on-hold as "life got in the way".
Sadly, Robert's health took a turn for the worse last month - so the pair told nurses and doctors at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, where Robert is receiving care, that they'd like to get married as soon as possible so they could be Mr and Mrs before Robert passes away.
Hardworking hospital staff worked around-the-clock to transform Robert's hospital ward into a bespoke wedding venue for the couple's ceremony - while giving him and other patients the expert care they need. For more Swansea stories, go to this page of our website.
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"We've been together for nearly 21 years and although Rob proposed to me three years ago, after being diagnosed with cancer, life got in the way and things didn’t happen," Rose, from Llanelli, explained. "Then, a couple of weeks ago, he was admitted to Morriston Hospital. They [medical staff] haven't said how long he has got but it doesn’t look very good. He’s getting worse to be honest.
"Knowing that he isn’t going to be in this world for very much longer, we had to make the decision to do it here and now. We decided to do the right thing.
"A friend of mine, who is a minister, suggested, ‘Why don’t you do it now?'" she added. "We both agreed and said 'Why not?'. That's how it happened. It was a mutual proposal.
"Once we had made the decision I spoke to Sally, the ward sister, and she was a Trojan. She made it happen. If it wasn’t for her I don’t think me and Rob would have done it. She gave us all the guidelines and all the support, and we did what we had to do."
The wedding was arranged in just a couple of weeks by ward sister, Sallyanne Greenfield and her team who decorated with lights and confetti, white curtains and a sweet "Mr and Mrs" sign.
"It was the first time in all my years of nursing that I had received a request for a couple to marry on the ward," Sallyanne said. "First I asked our matron if she would be happy for us to arrange it and she said, 'yes.' Then I contacted one of our chaplains to see if he had any advice and, fair play to him, he came up within 15 minutes with all the paperwork.
"We had to get the doctors’ permission as well, which they willingly offered, then Rose had to go and meet the registrar in Swansea."
The ceremony was low-key, staff say, but certainly marked the special moment for Mr and Mrs Pritchard, with the pair able to get married in front of Rose's daughters. For more Swansea stories, sign up to our newsletter.
Commenting on the ceremony, Rose said: "My two daughters came - my son is away at the moment – to witness it. It was magical to be honest with you, better than I ever imagined it would be. Obviously we couldn't go away on honeymoon but we had a lovely chilled evening together, in the room, it was so nice.
"I want to say a huge, massive thank you to the staff. I will never, ever forget what they did for us, and I will always be grateful."
Ward sister, Sallyanne added: “It was myself and a couple of others, who were on the ward on the Friday who discussed how can we make this happen and how can we make it special for them – because it’s a busy acute ward environment.
"We got together and bought some things out of the ward funds, such as balloons and battery-operated candles, to decorate. We also bought some non-alcoholic champagne and a cake – so they could cut the cake.
"We didn't tell all the staff that it was happening because we didn't want it to be overwhelming – just the people who were in that day. It was extremely touching. The most rewarding experience and a real honour to be involved in it all. I've been in nursing for 31 years and I have never felt like that for anything. It's something that I will never forget."
Is there a NHS staff member or healthcare worker you'd like to praise? Get in touch by email: molly.dowrick@walesonline.co.uk
