Hospital romance
IN 1991 a hospital romance between two patients ended in a happy marriage. According to an article published by The Fiji Times on March 21 of that year, Filipe Kuruvoli, 42, and his bride, Peceli Qasevakatini, also 42, exchanged marriage vows to become man and wife in the presence of about 60 staff members and patients of Tamavua Hospital, family and friends.
The couple were married in the medical rehabilitation unit of the hospital by the Rev Tikoko Nakete of the Methodist Church. Filipe had been a patient at the hospital for 22 years. He injured his spinal cord in 1968 when he fell off a horse and was admitted to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
He was transferred to Tamavua Hospital in 1969. Aside from some arm movement, Filipe was paralysed from the neck down and moved around in a wheelchair. He and his wife had known each other since they were 10 years old.
Both came from Kadavu where they grew up. After Filipe’s accident, the couple, who were just friends then, did not see each other until September 1990 when Peceli was admitted to Tamavua Hospital because of lung complications. With their friendship renewed, they decided to marry.
Peceli was discharged earlier that year, but continued visiting Filipe at the hospital.
Despite his paralysis, Filipe lived in a ward of the hospital for self-dependent patients. He took care of himself and had a talent of fashioning handicraft items, playing the ukulele and guitar and singing.
The matron in charge of the rehabilitation unit, Sister Marsen Kaitu’u, said she had known Filipe since 1974. She said he was one of her best patients.
“He has a happy personality and is well-known by everyone,” she said. In 1990, Filipe represented Fiji when he went to Japan for three weeks to sing and play in four concerts. Peceli works at Tanoa House as a general cleaner. Chief medical officer of the rehabilitation unit, Dr Jagdish Maharaj said Filipe and Peceli’s marriage was the “ultimate achievement in rehabilitation”.
“Paralysis is not a barrier for getting married and having a family,” he said. Dr Maharaj added that no one expected Filipe because he was a quiet person.
Meanwhile, what were the couple’s plans for the future?
Filipe had hoped they would find a home but at the same time he was saddened to leave the hospital that had been his home for so long.
The couple were thinking of starting a family. At the reception, it was obvious that the couple was well-liked by staff members and patients who wished them well.
Paralysis is not a barrier for getting married and having a family
– Dr Jagdish Maharaj