A couple who were rushed to hospital in the same ambulance with coronavirus tied the knot just before the groom was put into a coma.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Kerr and her fiancé Simon O’Brien were taken to hospital on January 10 after testing positive for the virus and showing dangerously low oxygen levels.
After being placed on separate Covid wards, Lizzie explained to medics at Milton Keynes University Hospital she and Simon had planned to get married in June.
But it wasn’t long before staff asked Lizzie if she wanted to get married at the hospital, explaining that it might be her only chance as Simon was heading to intensive care.
Lizzie, an NHS nurse, said: ‘The respiratory nurses came to see me on the ward and told me that Simon was going into intensive care and they couldn’t delay it.
‘And because we talked to them about, you know, that we’re getting married, and we were, and then they were sort of saying to us, well, do you want to get married in the hospital?
‘“This might be your only chance.” Those are words I never, ever want hear again.’
Hospital workers scrambled to secure a license for the pair, but Simon’s health was deteriorating very quickly.
Thankfully, the pair became husband and wife at 5.30pm on January 15 – just days after arriving at the hospital. Cake was even provided by the catering department.
However, shortly after, Simon needed to be sedated and spent the night on mechanical ventilation in ICU.
‘They didn’t necessarily expect him to come out,’ Lizzie explained.
But the couple were reunited a few days later after Simon’s condition improved.
This meant they finally got to have their first kiss as newlyweds.
Simon, a private ambulance driver, said: ‘I was dying to see Lizzie, to get back on this ward, so I tried my best, really fought, fought to get my breath back, to come back down again, and I did.’
Lizzie added: ‘We’ve got a wedding story that can trump anybody’s.’
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