Joy as ‘dying’ groom tells guests: I’ll live
A BRIDEGROOM who married his fiancee in a hastily-arranged ceremony after being told he had weeks to live stunned guests with his wedding speech as he told them: “I’m not dying.”
Jack Kane, 23, had to be lifted from his wheelchair so that he could get down on one knee and propose to Emma Clarke, also 23.
Emma accepted but believed she would have only a few precious weeks with Jack due to a cancerous tumour on his spine.
Their wedding was arranged to take place in a ceremony at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough eight days after his proposal on a cancer ward.
In that time doctors discovered the “terminal” cancer was in fact a neurological condition called neuromyelitis optica, known as Devic’s disease.
He had received the original diagnosis after his health rapidly deteriorated and he became unable to walk, suffering from intense back pain, pins and needles and hypersensitivity in his legs.
After visiting the hospital and doctors several times – where he was given a number of diagnoses, from a trapped nerve to mental illness – he woke one morning to find he could not move at all and was admitted to James Cook.
After tests and scans, which indicated a tumour on the spine, Jack was given the devastating news that he had weeks to live.
He said: “I was always going to marry Emma. We’ve known each other for nearly 10 years and have been together for the past three. From the first day I met her I knew I wanted to be with her. So I asked my mum to get
the ring and the nurses put me down on one knee to propose to her. We were married eight days later, I thought, ‘Why waste any time?’ ”
As his family and friends rushed to arrange the hospital ceremony, Jack was preparing himself for a spinal biopsy, involving surgery.
Then on the day of the procedure a scan found that the tumour was shrinking, with further tests leading medics to suspect his condition was Devic’s disease.
The couple, from Billingham, County Durham, married on October 23 and met loved ones at their reception, where they broke the good news to their guests.
Emma said: “For a moment you could have heard a pin drop in the room of about 130 people then it sank in and we had tears, cheers and everyone clapping. It was a moment I’ll never forget.”