I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK
Cancer is off – and a unique wedding is on
WHEN David Jameson and Janine Routledge became engaged last October, they knew they had a battle ahead of them.
David had just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, but plans for his upcoming marriage to his partner of 10 years gave him something to look forward to.
And now, five months on and with treatment complete, the couple from Whitley Bay can look forward to what will be a unique wedding day – the first ever at the new Moon attraction at Life Science Centre in Newcastle.
Following Saturday’s ceremony, friends and family will gather in the evening around the giant suspended globe, the focal point of the Museum of the Moon exhibition, to celebrate the happy day – and a happy ending to such a difficult past year.
“It’s the icing on the cake,” said David, a services manager for an IT firm based in Gateshead.
At a wedding rehearsal at Life on Monday where, joined by Janine’s dad Paul and daughters Lori, 15, and eight-year-old Eleanor, they saw the moon for the first time – “it’s amazing!” said Janine – the couple told of their journey.
Having been together 10 years, it was Janine who proposed in October, during a trip to the Lake District made just after David had received his diagnosis.
He had been suffering from bad back pain and recalls: “I wondered if it was a torn muscle.
“Then I went for an MRI and they spotted it.”
The diagnosis of cancer in his spine plunged the couple into a whirlwind of appointments at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
But Janine’s proposal gave them both something else to focus upon.
“We’d just had the diagnosis and we went to the Lake District,” said the 36-year-old, who works for homeless charity Depaul having previously been in the Royal Navy and then a teacher. “My sister had the kids that week and we went to get away from it all.”
The couple had talked about marriage in the past but Janine joked: “We’ve been together 10 years and I didn’t think it was ever going to happen, so I took matters into my own hands!”
Just as they were being caught up in something so beyond their control, David, 44, said of the wedding plans: “We hadn’t started the treatment and it just gave us something to look forward to.”
He added: “I started treatment in November, after being diagnosed in October, and it was finished by Christmas.
“We went every day for five-six weeks,” said Janine, and the pair are hugely grateful to the hospital, saying: “We want to thank the Freeman Hospital – everybody there was amazing.”
David said to Janine: “It was happening to me but I think it was worse, in a different way, for you.”
Following his successful treatment, with regular check-ups to follow, he feels both grateful and lucky.
“The treatment wasn’t without its pitfalls, its side-effects,” he said and while he still has some pain it’s “more tolerable than the pain I had last year”.
“The treatment is finished and we can get back to normal.
“The wedding is the icing on the cake, a positive book-end to a whole year. It’s a nice happy ending.”
Helping them to celebrate on Saturday will be around 76 guests: “one in four is under 12,” said Janine, so young ones no doubt will be keen to take full advantage of Life’s facilities, such as the children’s attractions and ice rink throughout the day.
She and David had already chosen the venue before being informed that their date would coincide with the arrival of the touring moon installation by artist Luke Jerram.
“We’d thought of having it here as we brought the kids here as they were growing up,” said Janine. “When we learned the date coincided with this, we thought it too good an opportunity to miss.” And on seeing the globe, which displays real NASA images of the lunar surface across it seven-metre circumference, she said: “It’s amazing – breathtaking. I want to touch it!”
The atmospheric moon – which is proving such a hit with visitors that its run at Life has been extended now until May 6 – has certainly captured the couple’s imagination, with the wedding taking a celestial theme.
David said: “I think everybody is fascinated with watching the skies”, while Janine added: “When I was teaching, it was my favourite topic.”
The exhibit has inspired their choice of wedding day music as well as their cake, which is to be black with nine planets projecting out of it on sticks.
The actual ceremony will be in Life’s planetarium where they will exchange their vows against a backdrop of universe images, with Lori and Eleanor as bridesmaids along with niece Amy, 11, and Janine’s best friend’s daughter Laila, aged seven.
“We’ll be walking down the aisle to Life on Mars, which is one of our favourite songs,” said Janine.
“My dad is a massive David Bowie fan and I was always listening to that sort of thing, so we’ll have lots of good space music!”
But before the 4pm ceremony, she and several of the guests will have their feet firmly on the ground – quite literally, by running 5k.
Janine, who is a member of Heaton Harriers, along with dad Paul, a runner with North Shields Polytechnic Club, plus her daughter, sister and David’s dad and sister will be doing a 5k park run.
“I run it every Saturday morning - it would weird if I didn’t!” said Janine. “I’ll be wearing a daft veil.”
After their wedding, she and David will return to the Lake District for their honeymoon: this time for a real celebration, accompanied by Lori and Eleanor.
We want to thank the Freeman Hospital – everybody there was amazing