Terminally ill Singaporean man in his 70s fulfills wish to marry his girlfriend of 40 years

  • A terminally ill Singaporean man in his 70s was granted his wish to marry his longtime girlfriend of 40 years by a charity organization that helped set up their wedding ceremony.
  • Ambulance Wish Singapore, a charity that creates positive end-of-life experiences for terminally ill individuals, shared the story on their Facebook page on July 9.
  • The wedding ceremony was attended by the man’s family as well as his neighbors, nurses, medical social workers and the social worker who recommended the charity.
  • Held in the lobby of the man’s apartment complex, red table spreads and pink floral arrangements — the bride’s favorite — adorned the small ceremony.

A charity organization in Singapore fulfilled the wish of a terminally ill man in his 70s by arranging a small wedding ceremony for him and his longtime girlfriend of 40 years.

On July 9, Ambulance Wish Singapore, a charity organization that creates positive end-of-life experiences for terminally ill people, shared the story of the man, Mr. Goh, on their Facebook page. 

Mr. Goh and his partner of 40 years tied the knot on the afternoon of July 7 in a small ceremony held in the lobby of his apartment complex. The ceremony was decorated with red table spreads, “auspicious decorations” and the bride’s favorite pink floral arrangements. The newlywed couple attended the wedding with light makeup and received wedding bands engraved with their names. 

Family and friends attended the ceremony where they received wedding invitations, red envelopes, red date longan tea and “tangyuan symbolizing family togetherness.”

“The ceremony was attended by Mr. Goh’s children, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren,” the post read. “Besides his family, Mr. Goh’s neighbors, nurses, medical social workers from Methodist Welfare Services, and Phillip, his social worker from Ng Teng Fong Hospital who referred this wish to us, joined in on the festivities.”

Dinner was served with some of Mr. Goh’s favorite dishes, including “Kong Ba Bao,” pork belly buns and “Hokkien Mee,” a stir-fried noodle dish. Although Mr. Goh is not particularly fond of cakes, he and Mrs. Goh celebrated the symbolic moment of cake slicing with an ice cream cake.

At the end of the post, Ambulance Wish Singapore thanked several individuals and organizations who helped with arranging the wedding ceremony, including the Registry of Marriages, who helped in “expediting the application,” and SG Wedding Favors for “sponsoring the wedding favors.”

Feature image via Ambulance Wish Singapore

Support our Journalism with a Contribution

Many people might not know this, but despite our large and loyal following which we are immensely grateful for, NextShark is still a small bootstrapped startup that runs on no outside funding or loans.

Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities to help give Asians all over the world a bigger voice.

However, we still face many trials and tribulations in our industry, from figuring out the most sustainable business model for independent media companies to facing the current COVID-19 pandemic decimating advertising revenues across the board.

We hope you consider making a contribution so we can continue to provide you with quality content that informs, educates and inspires the Asian community.
Thank you for everyone’s support. We love you all and can’t appreciate you guys enough.

ncG1vNJzZmhqZGy7psPSmqmorZ6Zwamx1qippZxemLyue82erqxnpJq%2FrrXNmqOlsV2eua150qKloJmgpL%2Bmrc1mpJqmXZ67brTIrGRwaKNis7a4xaKjpatdrLa0tIytpmalkae%2FunnHoqpmn5mnuae%2ByJ6lnWWfm3p1fIyynJqqo2Q%3D