Just 24 hours notice but bride ‘stunning’
LESLIE Fitz-Gerald didn’t get the wedding he wanted – but he sure got the wife he did.
“It definitely wasn’t how I’d normally plan an event,” the two-time double lung transplant recipient said of this week’s rush to marry Kaylee Evans at a Brisbane hospital before his lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis potentially took its ultimate toll.
“I’m normally a bit over the top, a bit flashy … we had a big wedding booked for Sanctuary Cove next year but things got out of control and we wanted to make sure that if things did go south, we were officially Mr and Mrs.
“We literally organised it in 24 hours. That’s no word of a lie.
“If all goes to plan, we’ll have a nice get-together at Sanctuary Cove in a year or two but I’ve just got to get out of here alive first.”
‘Here’ is Prince Charles Hospital and, specifically, the isolation room Leslie has called home for the past three months as he grapples with an infection that almost killed him and continues to wage war on his body.
Like little brother Nathan, the Gold Coast stockbroker was born with cystic fibrosis, an incurable condition that affects the lungs and digestive system. Both men underwent double lung transplants in their 20s, with Leslie having a second after his body rejected his new lungs.
Then, early last year, Nathan was diagnosed with a terminal melanoma.
“I lost about 12kg straight after,” Leslie said of the impact of his 30-year-old brother’s death in October. I wasn’t eating, I felt stressed and it just spiralled. I got an influenza, then a viral (infection) and then I picked up a fungal (infection).
“I normally recover fast but this one is a pretty rare infection. We’ve had drugs imported from overseas and are just waiting for my body to hopefully turn a corner.
“It’s a head game trying to stop myself going into respiratory failure … I need to remain calm. I even take drugs to transition from bed to a chair without having a panic attack.
“I’m literally just trying to get through hour by hour.”
And for one of those hours this week – the most glorious hour of all – Leslie sat in a wheelchair in a Prince Charles Hospital garden and wed the woman he loves in front of the people who love him.
“She was stunning, perfect,” he said of Kaylee, who he met just over a year ago.
“We had an IVF appointment booked this week, which is a dream we both had, but we got married instead. I couldn’t get through this without her.
“(The wedding) felt different to what we had planned ... I’m a bit old-school so not being able to stand and read my vows like a man in front of her dad was really hard.
“But it was nice to have an intimate affair. The nurses even set my room up as a honeymoon suite with lighting and flower petals. It was the icing on the cake.”
IF ALL GOES TO PLAN, WE’LL HAVE A NICE GET-TOGETHER AT SANCTUARY COVE IN A YEAR OR TWO BUT I’VE JUST GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE FIRST LESLIE FITZ-GERALD