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A dad-of-two married his sweetheart at his hospital bed just hours before he passed away from a rare form of cancer.
Ian Tong, from Preston, Lancashire, married his fiancee Gemma, 28, from his bed at Blackpool Victoria Hospital where he was being treated for anaplastic large cell lymphoma.
The 31-year-old passed away in the early hours of Monday morning, after he was diagnosed with lymphoma at the end of April and had spent the last six weeks in hospital.
Ian and Gemma Tong married at his hospital bedside just hours before he passed away from lymphoma
The couple married in front of a handful of friends and family after Mr Tong 'took a bit of a bad turn'
Mr Tong pictured enjoying time with his sons Jamie and Jayden (left) and with the boys and wife Gemma (right)
The couple, who met through mutual friends, were married at 3.30am at his hospital bedside with just a handful of family and friends as witnesses.
Nursing staff helped the pair to arrange the last minute ceremony and even surprised the couple with a cake, card and decorations - including confetti made from aluminium foil.
Mrs Tong, who is mum to three-year-old Jayden and one-year-old Jamie, said: 'We went along to the hospital on Sunday but Ian had taken a bit of a bad turn.
'His lungs were failing and he had been having seizures, so the doctors told us to prepare for bad news. He was really struggling.
'The nurses knew we had decided to get married in hospital and they were absolutely amazing. They arranged everything for us.
'The look on Ian's face when he said his vows was amazing, it was like he had never been ill. He was so happy.
'It wasn't the wedding we had planned on having, but at the end of the day everyone I would have wanted there was there with us. It was a bit of a silver lining.
'I have to focus on Jayden and Jamie now. Jamie is so young that he doesn't have any idea what is happening.'
Mr Tong pictured swimming with dolphins - he was later diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma
The couple got engaged last March but Mr Tong was diagnosed in April this year following numerous tests
The 31-year-old passed away in hospital after the couple spent several years together. It was only one week before his death they discovered the chemotherapy was not working
'But Jayden has started to get a bit frustrated and upset. I had to explain to them that Daddy wasn't coming home.'
The couple got engaged last March, but decided that they would get married in hospital just one week before Ian passed away after his condition deteriorated.
She had dreamt of a big white wedding but said the ceremony was a silver lining and she would 'cherish those memories for the rest of her life'.
Mr Tong initially fell ill in November last year, but after numerous tests and visits to four different hospitals he was finally diagnosed with lymphoma on April 23 this year.
Doctors initially thought he had a viral infection but despite extensive testing it took five months for him to be given a firm diagnosis.
And it wasn't until after a lymphoma biopsy was carried out in April that they received the bad news.
Mrs Tong had dreamed of a big white wedding but would cherish the memories of their ceremony 'forever'
Her focus was now on caring for her sons - 3-year-old Jayden (left) and 1-year-old Jamie (right)
The former street light engineer began chemotherapy straight away and was treated as an outpatient - but after he became blighted by infections he was admitted to hospital.
The full-time mum said: 'Ian went through so much - he had so many tests and in the end had been at four different hospitals.
'They tested him for everything, he was constantly in and out of hospital.
'After all that time they hadn't done a lymphoma biopsy - thinking about it now that test should have been done sooner.
'And then it felt like it took forever for the results to come back, but the type of cancer Ian had was really rare.
'Some days Ian would be better than others, he even managed to make it back to work for four days.
'It was one week before he died when we found out that the chemo wasn't working. But the doctors told us there was one last thing we could try.
'It was a type of drug, and Ian had been due to have his first session the same day he died.'
As well as his wife and their two young sons, Mr Tong left behind his parents, two older brothers and two older sisters.
His heartbroken widow now wants to raise awareness for the type of lymphoma he suffered from, which accounts for just 3 per cent of all diagnosed lymphoma cases.
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