The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Cancer battle bride thanks hero surgeon with invite to dream day
Medic stood by me – woman
An Aberdeen mum who medical professionals feared was going to die has thanked the Queen's surgeon for saving her life – by inviting him to the dream wedding she never thought she would live to have.
MarieMackenzie, 42, got engaged to her husband Stan Mackenzie, 39, in 2007. But a few months later, even as the couple were planning their special day, Mrs Mackenzie was told she had cervical cancer.
That was the prelude to her being forced to battle countless medical conditions and serious illnesses which threatened her life.
After enduring months
“My first hero is my dad, but I've got a second one”
of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she was forced back to hospital after feeling something wrong in her abdomen – a side-effect of her cancer treatment.
Mrs Mackenzie said: “I was in a lot of pain, a lot of stomach pain, and it got to the point where my sister had to call an ambulance and take me to hospital.
“My stomach was swollen, and I got rushed into theatre, and that was the first time I met Professor Zygmunt Krukowski.
“When he openedmeup, my stomach was full of abscesses, a side effect of the cancer treatment.
“The Prof did all he could to keep me alive, but I was constantly in and out of surgery."
Overcoming the odds, Mrs Mackenzie made it through the lengthy operations, but, on a number of occasions, her family were summoned to the hospital fearing the worst.
She added: “To have a man of that stature beside us when we were going through it was unreal. There's not enough words to describehowgratefulwe are to the people at ARI.
“The staff were absolutely amazing, there isn't any other word to describe how helpful they were, and how much they got us through."
And last Saturday, after more than nine years of fighting for life, she gained the chance to put on her white dress and have her dream wedding inWesthill – with Prof Krukowski sitting in the front row.
Mrs Mackenzie said: “As I said in my speech at my wedding, my first hero is my dad, but I've got a second one, and that's the Prof – because he has kept me here."