Ferntree Gully couple marries in hospital chapel days before man dies from cancer
Ferntree Gully ‘soulmates’ Linda and Rod Allen fulfilled their dream of becoming a married couple at a hospital chapel ceremony just days before Mr Allen’s death. The whirlwind wedding followed a romance that started on the dancefloor.
Inner East
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Love has a funny way of finding you, and for Ferntree Gully woman Linda Allen it found her five years ago on the dance floor at Springvale RSL sub-branch.
She said she noticed a man, Rod Allen, watching her from across the room and she said he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
He made his approach and told her she was the best dancer in the room before asking for a lesson.
Flash forward five years and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I saw this gentleman standing against a bar watching me dance but he was watching my feet,” Mrs Allen said.
“We shared the last dance of the night together.”
A year ago the couple received a shock when they learned Mr Allen’s ocular melanoma, a rare type of eye cancer that occurs in just 1 per cent of the population, had returned.
He passed away at Cabrini hospital in Malvern on September 19 just days after the couple tied the knot in the hospital’s chapel.
Marriage had been on the cards for a while, but she said his failing health prompted them to get a move on with their nuptials.
“We had planned to get married sooner but it didn’t happen … then one day we thought, ‘No, we are just going to do this,” Mrs Allen said.
“It was all very quick but everyone pulled out all the stops to organise the ceremony and make it a special day for us.
“Knowing that we were going to be married gave Rod a new lease on life … he was so happy to be able to call me his wife.”
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She also thanked Cabrini staff for their compassion and support, including the pastoral care team who looked after Mr Allen in his final days.
“They listened to us and what we wanted and they couldn’t have done more to make Rod feel comfortable,” she said.
Cabrini manager of pastoral and bereavement services Catherine Carr said the hospital prided itself on making their patients as comfortable as possible and went to great lengths to satisfy their needs.
“Pastoral practitioners understand that even at the end of our physical lives there can be a lot of living left to fulfil,” she said.
“It is often at the end of life that people realise what is truly important. Our pastoral care team listens with their hearts to help patients and their families find hope and strength in times of illness.”