A RETIRED police officer given just days to live after a shock terminal cancer diagnosis has married the love of his life in hospital.
Staff at Furness General Hospital’s Ward 9 have gone above and beyond to arrange the wedding of Mark and Lianne Dempster within just a few hours.
Mr Dempster, a retired Barrow police officer of 25 years, was told during an operation that surgeons had found cancer, which was very fast-growing.
Doctors were able to remove the cancer and the 55-year-old underwent chemotherapy for six months before being given the all clear on New Year’s Eve last year.
Earlier this month, Mr Dempster ‘felt off’ and was re-admitted to hospital where doctors discovered the cancer had returned – and it was incurable but treatable.
The dad-of-one, who retired from the force in September, was told he had five years left, however, further tests revealed the cancer was more fast-growing than first suspected.
On June 16, Mr Dempster was told he had weeks – if not days – to live.
After he was delivered the devastating news that his cancer could not be treated, Mr Dempster told nurses that he wanted to marry the love of his life, Lianne, whom he had might whilst working in the force.
Two hours later, the nurse informed the pair, who live in Barrow, that a registrar had been booked, hair and makeup was arranged, staff volunteered their own wedding dresses for Lianne to wear, food and drinks had been organised, decorations were in place and a personalised cake had been ordered, all whilst carrying out their own life-saving work.
“It was unbelievable,” Lianne, a 32-year-old BAE worker, said.
“It was all set for June 17 and organised within a day – it was phenomenal.
“People gave me their wedding dresses to try on and a nurse came in on her day off to do my hair and Posh Flowers donated a bouquet of flowers.
“There was a registrar there to get us married – it was amazing and the fact that the staff managed to arrange everything so quickly was incredible. They were like our family.
“The ward manager, Heidi, did everything she could for us. Everyone on Ward 9 went well above their job description for us. They were even willing to give up their own rings for us to have.
“They gave us a dream wedding which meant the world us to us.”
Staff clapped the smitten pair as they walked into the hospital room to say ‘I do’.
“For a time we thought we would never smile, we were laughing and on a high,” Lianne said.
“Of course it was hard, there were a few tears but it was the best day of my life. I can’t thank everyone at the hospital enough. These are complete strangers yet they spent their own time and money making our day special.”
Lianne said Mark’s death will leave a ‘massive hole’ in their lives and plans on continuing his charity work with the homeless shelter as well as organise a car rally in his name in the future.
The pair would like to offer a special thanks to the staff of Ward 9, including: Natalie, Jules, James and Ian, Christine, Jodie and Heidi.
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