Sad farewell: bride who touched hearts and fulfilled her dying wish laid to rest
THEIR story touched the hearts of thousands and yesterday Samantha Byrne was laid to rest from the Co Down home she shared with husband Frankie.
Samantha’s wish to marry before passing away from terminal cancer persuaded the Executive to allow her wedding to go ahead during lockdown.
She passed away on Sunday and was buried in the dress she wore at her wedding.
A short service at the couple’s Loughbrickland home, the scene of their wedding just three months ago, was attended by family and close friends.
It was only through frantic appeals from her family to the First and Deputy First Ministers that Samantha won permission to marry the love of her life.
Days after Covid-19 restrictions on marriages for the terminally ill were lifted she got her wish of a wedding day on May 22.
Samantha had been diagnosed with soft cell sarcoma in 2018 and told she had two years to live. The cancer then spread to her lungs, neck and spine and her condition had deteriorated in the weeks before she was due to marry.
She passed away on at the Southern Area Hospice, aged 53, with First Minister Arlene Foster among those to send sympathies.
In a tribute earlier this week, husband Frankie (54) said: “There are so many people we have to thank for giving us so many special memories. We had the most beautiful day together at the wedding. It’s all we ever wanted but for a while it looked like it would never happen, we knew time was getting short.”
Following the service, Samantha was laid to rest at Banbridge New Cemetery.