She was given 48 hours to live but, 13 weeks later, has a broad smile, loving new husband and bucket-list of wishes.
Sylvia Vine, who was frail when she left hospital eight weeks ago, has since regained weight with the help of good food prepared by her attentive chef husband Terry and is planning for the future.
The couple met eight years ago and lived in Dundee but moved to Caithness after Sylvia was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. It was her “dying wish” to marry.
They wed on February 9 at Wick Town and County Hospital at a special ceremony attended by family, staff and patients. The registrar waived the rule about four-weeks’ notice.
German-born Mrs Vine, 50, who was raised in Wick, said: “Terry is a big, big support. He does everything for me. His food’s lovely and it’s so lovely what everybody does for me.”
Her secret? “Willpower, just saying I’m not ready to go yet. It’s not easy, but I try.”
Sylvia has a degree of mobility but resorts to a wheelchair when the couple pop out each day for some air.
Macmillan nurses are regular visitors and district nurses maintain a 24-hour pain-relief pump that she needs to wear. Sylvia also relies on throat-numbing medication to enable her to eat.
But her inbuilt optimism means she is thinking beyond tomorrow.
Asked how he thought she had survived, 38-year-old Terry said: “I have no idea. It’s amazing. About 13 weeks ago I was told she’d be dead in the morning. She’s still here, fighting strong. She’s my hero. She’s unbelievable and she’s everything to me.
“If someone had told me I was going to die I doubt I’d still be here. She gets up every day with a smile on her face and carries on as normal.”
As well as Terry’s tasty curries, Sylvia has found solace in Lego, which has kept her mentally and physically active and distracts her from the ache of her illness.
The Vines have been overwhelmed by the generosity of locals, not least the regulars at Camps Bar who have bought them a tumble-drier. Sylvia’s brother Allan has been “a rock,” regularly at her side.
Next on her “bucket list” is a trip in a Ferrari and to have her picture taken at the gates of Buckingham Palace.
Iain McHardy, acting senior charge nurse, said her spirit “is to be admired and applauded.”
Wick St Fergus Church minister, the Rev John Nugent, who married the couple, said: “Sylvia is an absolute inspiration. She’s given an extra lift to staff and patients at the palliative care unit in Wick.”
As for a prognosis, Terry said: “They have no idea. It’s all down to her fight, now.”
