FOR better or worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These solemn vows were exchanged between terminally ill Daniel Paton and former Port Macquarie girl Ashlea Hanson just days before his passing.
The doctor's prognosis that Daniel's life would be cut so short because of a malignant melanoma was unfathomable.
It was Daniel's dying wish to make an eternal commitment to the girl of his dreams.
With the help of the extraordinary staff at the Calvary Hospital in Canberra, that dream would become a reality just 18 hours later.
"You could see they were perfect for each other," Ashlea's mother Cathy Hanson told the Port News yesterday.
"It was going to be forever. It was a beautiful relationship they had," Ms Hanson said.
An angel in white, with thick brown curls rolling down her back, Ashlea met her husband to be at the altar.
In a wheelchair and visibly weak from an aggressive melanoma, the smile on Daniel's face seemed far-removed from his circumstance.
Three nights earlier, on Sunday July 21, the 27-year-old Wagga man had been admitted to hospital. He was diagnosed with advanced melanoma 12-months ago and aware the cancer was spreading.
But neither he, nor Ashlea, expected his condition to deteriorate so quickly.
Daniel's mother would later say her son believed Ashlea was "the best thing to ever happen to him".
That his bride was "the love of his life".
The pair had expected nothing more than a simple bedside ceremony. But, in a heart-warming display of the human spirit, hospital staff rallied as one to give Daniel and Ashlea a wedding to rival all others.
"It was just the most beautiful wedding," Ms Hanson said. "I didn't have a clue but the hospital had planned the whole thing."
Last Wednesday afternoon, the pair were married in the hospital chapel.
Down to the finest detail, staff had organised a memorable and moving ceremony.
Calvary Hospital nursing director, Nicki Dennis said from 7:30am that morning, the wedding became priority.
"Everyone was dropping everything to make this happen," she said.
From the flowers and bouquet, to the cake, the photographer and minister no stone was left unturned.
Ms Dennis even grabbed her own perfectly-fitting wedding gown from home, while another called on a friend, who is a beautician, to make Ashlea look and feel the part.
"She was just going to wear what she had, a pair of jeans and ugg-boots with a white top," Ms Dennis said. "We couldn't have that, we wanted her to look like an angel."
Shoulder to shoulder, a group of friends, family and hospital staff, fortunate enough to share the special moment, stood in awe of the radiant couple.
"They're soul-mates," Ms Hanson said. "She's been able to give him his wish. It's wonderful that they will be able to have this moment, this memory, forever."
Daniel passed-away peacefully on Sunday night at Canberra's Calvary Hospital.
His funeral will be held in Canberra on Wednesday.