For some couples, crossing the threshold after a wedding has special significance. But Ron Clarke’s homecoming was life-changing.
Clarke and Stephanie Powell exchanged vows at Windsor Regional Hospital last month, on the eve of his major brain surgery.
That surgery was a success, and they have been counting the days to that moment when they could leave the hospital as husband and wife.
Clarke even had hospital staff take down the clock in his room because he was so filled with anticipation.
On his return home, Clarke had this reaction, “Just amazing, so overwhelmed, like I made it through for the third time.”
In the last four months, the 51-year-old Clarke has undergone three invasive brain surgeries after being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.
“My brother, when he came down from London, he said, ‘Figures you would have to go after that. Everything’s been so aggressive in your life. You’d have to get the most aggressive cancer.’”
That cancer forced the couple to rearrange their wedding plans, originally scheduled for June 13th; 13 years after the day they first met.
On October 31st they tied the not, with their three children by their side, hours before Clarke was whisked off to surgery.
Now Stephanie Clarke, his bride says she had not doubts her husband would pull through, “He would be OK, and I would be OK, and we’d be OK together.”
As for the groom, “My biggest concern, like I told all the neurosurgeons, was I’ll do anything I can…just so I can stay around for Stephanie and the kids.”
And the priority now for the Clarke family is just spending time with loved ones.
