Bridget tells of rocky proposal
BRIDGET Daley never thought she would be asked to get married, or survive a boat crash which nearly took her life last year – but both things happened in a matter of hours.
The 92.5 GoldFM breakfast radio host shared her engagement story with the Bulletin yesterday for the first time, before opening up about it on the show this morning.
After being single for her whole life, the 42-year-old took herself on an “Eat Pray Love’’ trip to Thailand and decided she would propose to herself.
Little did she know that months later she would meet the love of her life, Jamie Brousard, 43, at the 2018 Blues on Broadbeach.
The pair ended up falling in love and then, on July 5, they planned a getaway to a small island just off Mackay.
With his great-grandmother’s ring in his pocket, Jamie planned to propose to Bridge and offer her the same ring – estimated to be 150 years old – in a romantic setting on the island’s mountaintop.
But the boat never made it to the island.
The 22-foot (6.7m) yacht crashed on to rocks and began to sink about 30km off the coast.
“We had one chance to jump (out of the boat) and on to the rocks,” Bridget said.
“(It) was sinking. He grabbed on to me and said, ‘I just need you to listen to everything and do everything I say’. He pulled me off the boat and on to land and made sure I didn’t fall back into the water.”
After rescuing Bridget, Jamie went back to the boat to help the crew.
“It was that real moment of, ‘I could be watching him die here and what am I going to do, I can’t lose this guy’. And all this is happening with this engagement ring in his pocket,’’ she told the Bulletin.
“He saved my life and had the engagement ring in his pocket the whole time.”
The Volunteer Marine Rescue plucked them from the rocks and took them to Mackay Base Hospital.
While Bridget was recovering the next day, her fortunes reversed.
“I was in a hospital gown, eating a meat pie and stunk of petrol,” she said. “He started to say all these beautiful things and I thought: ‘Is he going to propose?’
“He proposed to me in the front seat of his van. He just pulled out the ring and said, ‘I nearly lost you, I’m not waiting another second to ask you to marry me.’
“The romantic part of it was he saved my life before he proposed to me.
“It was a running joke with me, the listeners, work colleagues and my parents, saying ‘geez, you pick the wrong one’. I’d had a cycle of picking the wrong guy.
“The interesting thing is, I was never bitter about love.’’
So after the near tragedy, her life has set sail on a new course with her Mr Right.
The pair plan to marry on the Gold Coast in September.
“I’m so happy,” Bridget said.
“It took me 42 years to find the guy. We knew we were destined and meant to be together.”