With two beds pushed together, a ‘Just Married’ sign hung across the back and hearts scattered around the room, the setting was as romantic as newlyweds Diane Jones and Jeremy Meazey had hoped.
Exchanging their vows meant everything to the couple. They knew it was their last chance to marry before Jeremy’s cancer would take him from her.
Diane says: “Although Jeremy was really fragile we managed to get him into a suit and I bought a new red dress. I walked down the aisle on my brother’s arm to Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red, and Jeremy told me I looked beautiful.
“We also played Van Morrison’s Have I Told You Lately because that’s our song.
“The nurses pushed two beds together in his room and put a ‘just married’ across the back of them. There were little hearts all over the room. It was just lovely.”
The ceremony, in Jeremy’s Marie Curie Hospice, was the culmination of a love story that began in a cosy pub full of couples chatting over a few drinks in flickering candlelight on Valentine’s night.
On a table for two in the corner, a pair on their first date were already falling in love.
Diane and Jeremy had been swapping messages on a dating site for a few weeks. Enjoying no awkward silences, lots in common and electric chemistry, both knew they’d found someone special.
Diane, 63, says: “As soon as we met for the Valentine’s drink in 2017, that was it. We chatted for five hours and clicked straight away: I knew he was the one. Not long afterwards Jeremy left a message on the dating site saying, ‘Thanks, I’ve met my dream’.”
A series of Sliding Doors moments saw Diane and Jeremy, from Rhiwbina, north Cardiff, come close to meeting many times before.
“It turns outs we had lots of mutual friends, but our paths had never crossed,” says Diane. “I even grew up on the same street as his best friend Ian. I own my own letting agency and had even rented a flat to Ian’s daughter.”
Yet something seemed right about them meeting now.
Diane says: “Jeremy retired from his job as a Tata Steel accountant two months before we met.
“I’d fought breast cancer and had finished chemo, radiotherapy and surgery. When we met the following February it felt like perfect timing. Jeremy was so lovely, romantic and kind. He wasn’t bothered about any of my scars or anything, and always made me feel so special. He was the nicest person I’ve ever met.”
On May 28 2018, Jeremy and Diane were enjoying a glass of wine in Diane’s sunny back garden when the pair chatted about moving in together, Jeremy told her how happy she made him and proposed.
After another happy year together, Jeremy saw his doctor about backache and was sent to hospital for tests. After weeks of agonising waits for biopsy tests, cancerous cells were found in Jeremy’s stomach.
He was in hospital for a few weeks before he came home, but his health deteriorated and chemotherapy was delayed. In May 2019, doctors said Jeremy needed to go to a hospice.
Diane says: “I felt scared at first but we knew it was the right thing to do. Marie Curie managed to get him to the Penarth hospice the next day.
“The staff were so lovely that Jeremy was happy to be there, so that made it easier. He was able to eat well at first, but he gradually got weaker. It was devastating to see.
“By June, Jeremy knew he wasn’t going to make it. On the Tuesday the week before he died, he said he wanted us to get married. I said I didn’t know how we could, but one of the nurses overheard and told us we could get married at the hospice.”
Four days later, on 15 June 2019, 15 close friends and family attended Diane and Jeremy’s wedding at the Marie Curie hospice in Penarth.
For the next few days, Diane slept beside Jeremy and he held her hand all night.
Diane says: “Five days after our wedding, I put my pyjamas on and said, ‘Night night hubby’ and he blew me kisses back.
“I fell asleep but woke at 4.55am and Jeremy was awake and looking at me. I asked him if he wanted some water and went to get some. When I came back he tried to speak to me but was too weak. Then he went really peacefully.
“It was strange that I woke at that time of the morning as I never normally would. But the nurse said she’d seen him blowing me kisses and had been watching me all night. He was waiting for me to wake up and didn’t want to go until I had.”
Jeremy was 58 when he died, leaving Diane and his sons David, Thomas and Owen heartbroken. Diane planted a rosebush in her garden in the spot where Jeremy proposed. It flowered on the day of his funeral and she felt sure she saw the image of his face in the petals.
“Small signs like that are a comfort, and I feel Jeremy is always with me,” says Diane. “I had his platinum wedding ring re-sized and wear it every day.
“I’m so happy we had the opportunity to get married. I know how important it was to Jeremy, and although the day wasn’t what we had imagined or hoped for, it was still really special. I wore my red wedding dress to Jeremy’s funeral because I knew he liked it.
“We all miss him greatly and he will always be in our hearts. Even though my time with Jeremy was short, I’m so glad we had our time together.”
To donate and support Marie Curie’s Great Daffodil Appeal this March visit Mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil
