Terminally-ill mum watches son’s wedding with help from Nottingham hospital staff

Nottingham hospital staff helped a terminally-ill mother watch her son’s wedding via FaceTime and recreated the special day on the ward.

Jillian Crossland, 70, from Nottingham, fell at home and fractured her hip shortly before son Ian’s wedding.

Staff at the Queen’s Medical Centre tried to make Ms Crossland well enough to attend in person, but she was too ill.

Instead, the Trauma and Orthopaedics team helped her watch the wedding using technology and the hospital’s family room was decorated with fine china, cake and non-alcoholic prosecco.

Jillian’s sister Janet and niece Vanessa arrived to take her to the ward’s family room, with her mother of the groom entrance viewed by wedding guests via FaceTime.

‘It made my day’

Son Ian said: “We did consider cancelling the wedding, but after being reassured by Mum’s care team that they could still make it special for her, we decided to go ahead.

“It made my day because I was feeling guilty about getting married without my mum being there, but this was the next best thing.

“The nurses were fantastic. I’m really grateful the team let us do it. They really went to town and helped out. My mum was loving it. She said she felt really spoilt.”

A few days after the wedding, the groom and his new bride Natasha and their two daughters, Mia, 17, and Sophia, 12, arrived in full wedding attire to take official photographs on the ward balcony, which was decorated with flowers.

Hannah Shaw, ward sister from Trauma and Orthopaedics, said: “I’ve never seen Jillian smile so much as when she arrived in that room and saw the effort we had gone to, to make it as special as we could.

“It was an honour to be able to provide something so small - but that meant so much to the family and Jillian.”