Husband spends 75th anniversary in hospital bed
A couple celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary were surprised in all the wrong ways when one ended up in hospital after suffering a fall.
Cyril and Beryl Norris, from Feilding, had an action-packed day planned for June 27, although festivities had been delayed while Cyril, 96, recovered from five days in hospital.
Despite suffering no major injuries, the fall came as a shock to Cyril, which happened when attempting to walk without his supporting stick.
His first fall was on June 23, four days before the big day. An ambulance was called around midday and he was taken to hospital where scans revealed no broken bones.
After persuading doctors he was fine, Cyril was released at 10pm. However, less than two hours later he was back in the emergency department.
‘‘I hadn’t even got in the house before I collapsed on the ground again,’’ he said.
‘‘The other good news is they found a knee full of arthritis. I thought it had been sore for a while when I tried to get out of bed.’’
He and Beryl spent the next five days, including their anniversary, next to each other while doctors examined him.
Daughter Elayne Johnston said he had contracted three minor illnesses.
‘‘I think he thought he was better than he was.
‘‘They had to can the events they had organised on the day and we sat with him at the hospital and had a big tub of Kapiti icecream.’’
The couple will hold their two events next week - a morning tea with senior citizens at Manchester House and celebration with fellow residents at Coombrae Retirement Village.
They also planned to have a family dinner at Amayjen Restaurant.
‘‘I hadn't even got in the house before I collapsed on the ground again. ’’ Cyril Norris
The couple were married on June 27, 1942, shortly before Cyril joined the war as a Royal Air Force navigator.
They met at a ‘‘sixpenny hop’’, or dance, in England, two weeks after World War II broke out.
The pair moved to New Zealand in 1953, spending their last £700 on a booking passage. They arrived in Dannevirke with only £40. All they and their two children had was their clothes and some bed linen. They now have 16 great-grandchilden.