Couple tick bucket list day as tragedy awaits
Julian ‘‘Jay’’ Mason was ‘‘gobsmacked’’ when his beautiful, but terminally ill, bride walked down the aisle.
Tracey Mason has been diagnosed with a rare heart cancer called pleomorphic spindle cell sarcoma of mediastinum and has just over a month left to live.
The Waimate couple are determined to ‘‘take every day as it comes, embrace it and create special moments with each other’’.
Jay and Tracey were married in an unofficial ceremony at Waimate’s Knottingley Park at 11am on Saturday.
‘‘It completed me. It completed that missing part in our relationship,’’ Jay said.
‘‘For a quick, private family gathering, it went down exceptionally.
‘‘We had our beautiful kids there, our grandbabies, my mother, and Christine McSkinning who stood in as celebrant. A huge thank you to them for coming to celebrate our big day.’’
While their union is not legal because both are still married to previous partners and have run out of time to finalise a divorce, Tracey plans to change her surname by deed poll to Mason – with the couple getting a thrill from Jay referring to her as ‘‘Mrs Mason’’.
‘‘To my biggest delight, she is taking my surname. I’m absolutely stoked,’’ Jay said.
‘‘The courts have said what we’ve done is okay as long as Tracey and I don’t sign any legal documents.’’
Tracey, who has lost her voice as a symptom of the cancer, said via text she ‘‘couldn’t have wished for a better man to marry’’.
‘‘He’s my soulmate and when the time comes where I have to say goodbye, it won’t be forever. It will only be until we reunite, as I will be waiting for him.
‘‘Even though we are not married in the eyes of the law, to us and family we are married.’’
Jay said the couple initially planned to wed in Aoraki/Mt Cook and again in Tekapo this weekend, but decided to hold just one ceremony closer to home after Tracey’s doctor expressed concerns about her compromised immune system.
‘‘It was equally beautiful in Knottingley [Park]. She [Tracey] looked absolutely beautiful, I was gobsmacked,’’ he said.
‘‘Unfortunately, the specialists have advised us against going anywhere and I don’t think I’ll want to put her through that stress again. It was a big day.
‘‘The day, to us, was a bucket list wish that we were able to tick off.’’
The couple had been offered a campervan trip as well as an Omarama holiday home to make memories together.
‘‘People’s generosity has just been heart-warming, but because of her condition we’re just going to spend our days at home with each other, just enjoying each other’s company. We’ll create fun where we can.’’
Tracey was first diagnosed with cancer on March 28, 2018, when it was discovered an eight by 15 centimetre mass was pushing against her heart.
Surgery to remove the growth was followed by six weeks of radiation in July and a second operation to replace 2cm of her heart with a patch from a cow’s heart on October 9, 2018.
She was in remission when she met Jay, who moved in with her a month later and proposed on New Year’s Day 2020.
But on May 27, Tracey was told the cancer had returned and because it was growing on the muscle and main valves of her heart, it was impossible to remove.
She was given about two months to live. A Givealittle page has been set up to help Tracey’s family with funeral costs.