Blackpool couple married in hospital day before bride died

John Chamberlain and partner Karen Threlfall had their friends and relatives around them as a registrar pronounced them man and wife in Ward 5, the acute respiratory ward, at the Blackpool hospital.

But with Karen’s health deteriorating rapidly, staff at at the Vic, helped by Trinity Hospice nurses, had to act quickly to ensure the emergency wedding could go ahead in time.

John, of Rose Finch Way, Mereside, has praised staff at the hospital and Trinity for the way they made the wedding possible in such exceptional circumstances, ensuring Karen could have the wedding she yearned for before time slipped tragically away.

It could not have been more fitting as Karen, 52, had worked worked in the hospital as a cardiac nurse for many years.

The couple, who had been together for seven years, were married on September 6 before Karen died at Trinity Hospice four days later.

John 53, an electrician who works on buses for Blackpool Transport, said: “I cannot praise the staff at the hospital and Trinity enough.

"They made Karen’s dream come true, I can’t speak highly enough about them.

"It wasn’t the way I had planned it, I had booked a country house in the Lake District for October 14 for the wedding.

"But when I was told how little time Karen had left, all the plans changed.

"It meant so much that we had time to get married and that everyone was there.

"Blackpool Vic does get its criticism but they were so good to us, it couldn’t have been better.”

Staff on ward 5 prepared the ward for the service and arranged cakes, sandwiches.

Karen, a mum of three, was dressed in a pristine white blouse for the ceremony, John attired in a pale grey, checked suit and his daughter Grace was best man.

Karen had been diagnosed breast cancer in early in 2020.

She underwent a mastectomy at Blackpool Victoria but although although the operation was a success, it was not plain sailing and she had to spend 10 days in the hospital’s high dependency unit.

Despite getting the all clear, the couple were devastated when the cancer returned - and this time it was in her bones.

Brave Karen underwent radiotherapy and when she rang the bell three times – the traditional way of marking the end of treatment – John went down on one knee and proposed in July.

But the couple had less time than they realised.

Karen spent time in Trinity Hospice before having to be rushed to Blackpool Victoria with pneumonia – and after four days in the high dependency unit, she was taken to Ward 5.

Dad-of-one John said: “We had been in close touch with some of the nursing staff at Trinity and Karen had wanted to go back there.

"But we realised how ill he was, so we got married in the hospital ward.

"I informed all our close friends and relatives and they were able to make it for the wedding.”

John said it meant so much for them to be married, despite her being so ill.

Karen’s funeral will held at Carleton Crematorium on Wednesday September 21.