A young couple married in Vaiola Hospital yesterday despite the groom being hospitalised and confined to bed after surviving a car accident that almost cost his life.
Hospital staff member Sharon Fiu told Kaniva News they were the first people to be married in the hospital’s chapel.
She said it was the first time a patient had been married while still hospitalised.
“May God bless this new family and heal the groom soon,” Fiu wrote on Facebook.
A person close to the family with whom groom was staying, whom we have chosen not to name for cultural reasons, said the groom was Tavake ʻO Vailahi Losiki and the bride was Lavinia Vaitohi.
Losiki was from Haʻalaufuli, Vavaʻu, but was staying with his relatives at the Niuvākai residence in Pea.
She said the groom’s legs were dislocated during the accident and he was bedridden.
The woman said the wedding was planned for this week with the practice of fakalelea (bridegroom’s family visiting the bride’s house on the night before the wedding) to be held on Wednesday, but the groom had the accident on Tuesday.
She said Vaitohi was from Australia and she was befriended by the groom when he was employed there as a seasonal worker.
Photos from the wedding were uploaded to Facebook yesterday and have gone viral.
Many commentators said the wedding reflected true love between the couple.
Some said they felt like crying when they looked at the photos and read about the wedding knowing the future of the groom’s injuries were uncertain.
“What a loving woman,” one commentator wrote.
Unconfirmed reports said Losiki was driving a van when it was involved in a collision with a bus on Tuesday morning at Pea near the house where he was staying.
It is understood eight passengers of the bus were injured, including the bus driver.
The main points
- A young couple married in Vaiola Hospital yesterday despite the groom being hospitalised and confined to bed after surviving a vehicle accident that almost cost his life.
- Hospital staff member Sharon Fiu told Kaniva News they were the first people to be married in the hospital’s chapel.
- The groom has been identified as Tavake ʻO Vailahi Losiki and the bride as Lavinia Vaitohi.
- She said Vaitohi was from Australia and she was befriended by the groom when he was employed there as a seasonal worker.
- The couple met in Australia while Losiki was there as a seasonal worker.
