A couple from Swansea had to delay their wedding vow renewal by three years due to a cancer diagnosis and Covid lockdown restrictions. When Ashley Pegg was diagnosed with ovarian, colonic and umbilical cancer in December 2018, she was told the average lifespan after diagnosis was three to five years.
Ashley said: "It was the cancer diagnosis that triggered the decision to renew our vows. It was a real shock. We decided to renew our wedding vows, thinking I wasn’t going to be here."
But the couple had to push the renewal back on five separate occasions as Ashley's cancer returned. They had discussed renewing their vows in 2019, but ended up setting a date for June 13, 2020 to coincide with their 20th anniversary and the anniversary of Ashley's mother's death.
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In 2000, the couple brought their wedding forward by a month, leaving themselves with just five days to organise it, so that Ashley's mum Valerie could attend. Valerie had been suffering with skin cancer and had been told she wouldn't make it to July, when the wedding was originally planned.
Ashley and Paul got married on June 1, 2001, and Valerie died at the age of 65 on June 13. But 20 years later, when the pair were hoping to renew their vows, the first Covid lockdown meant the ceremony had to be postponed.
Ashley was in remission after her first operation and was undergoing chemotherapy and immunotherapy. But the cancer returned and she needed a second operation in October 2021, with her chemotherapy finishing in April 2022.
The couple finally had their ceremony in August, with a service at All Saints Church in Mumbles followed by a three-course meal at the Marriott in Swansea with 140 guests. Ashley, who has fundraised for cancer charities since her close friend Carol, who died in 2020, was diagnosed, said: "When we renewed our vows we decided to raise money by asking our guests to make donations instead of buying gifts.
"By then we’d been married for 22 years. We had everything we wanted. We had a home. We had each other. There was nothing we needed. I wanted to do it for a mucinous ovarian cancer charity, but as it’s so rare there isn’t one specifically for it. My oncologist, Dr Rachel Jones, mentioned the [South West Wales] Cancer Centre had a charitable fund, so Paul and I agreed we would give to that."
Paul, Ashley and their guests raised £1,000 for the cancer centre, which opened in 2004. The centre provides chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and also has an inpatient ward at Singleton and a research unit.
Joanne Abbot-Davies, assistant director of insight, engagement and fundraising for Swansea Bay University Health Board, said: "Our thanks go to Ashley and Paul for contributing to our charity as a lasting way of celebrating their time together. Every penny we receive counts for patients and staff at the South West Wales Cancer Centre."
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