NHS staff organise wedding for woman just days before she dies
NHS HOSPITAL staff organised a wedding in a day so that a woman with terminal cancer could get married.
Pauline Manning was married for just eight days before she died on Sunday, but her grieving husband Alan Christie and family have praised NHS staff for everything they did for her.
The couple, who had been together for 40 years, tied the knot at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate, Kent.
Hospital staff went to extraordinary lengths to make the day as special as possible, transforming a side room on the ward into a wedding venue for the ceremony.
They covered medical equipment with sheets and hung fairy lights and balloons to create a magical wedding for the couple.
Mr Christie, a retired insurance broker, said: “While I went to the registry office to do the paperwork, the staff helped get Pauline ready.
“They lent her a silver horseshoe and something blue, brought in non-alcoholic champagne and confetti and helped make it a fantastic day.”
Retired area resource manager Mrs Manning, from Sholden, near Deal, met Mr Christie at a dance in August 1980.
The pair had often talked about getting married, but they never got around to arranging the ceremony.
However, when Mrs Manning received her diagnosis they decided there was no time like the present.
A date was set for Friday November 15.
Mr Christie, a retired insurance broker, said: “Pauline always wanted a simple ceremony so that’s what we did.”
Mrs Manning’s children, Nina and Scott, were witnesses, and her sister Julie acted as best man and gave her away.
Mr Christie said: “It was like a wedding Supermarket Sweep – they dashed around Deal getting everything we needed.”
Scott found a pink tie in the town’s Sue Ryder charity shop, after having no luck in other shops. The charity supports people with terminal illnesses and their families.