Groom left heartbroken after planning childhood sweetheart’s funeral five days after their wedding

A groom is heartbroken after having to plan his childhood sweetheart’s funeral five days into their wedding.

Dave McLoughlin, 35, from Tipperary, Ireland, married his long-term partner Michelle Crowe, 33, on March 20 at the University of Hospital Limerick, Ireland.

The father-of-two says the ceremony – which took place in the hospital chapel – was “amazing” as his wife found the strength to walk down the aisle.

After the ceremony, the couple were served non-alcoholic wine and the hospital staff kindly decorated Michelle’s room in LED lighting.

The grieving father said, “I want to thank the nurses and staff. It’s not how we imagined our wedding night, but they made it just as special.”

Tragically, Michelle passed away less than a week later, leaving behind her new husband and their children Cillian, 13, and year-old Oisin.

The pair met in Tipperary in June 2004 when they were just teenagers and became ‘welded together’.

In May 2016, Dave proposed to Michelle and the couple slowly started making plans to tie the knot.

However, their lives were turned upside down when Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2022 – months after they welcomed their youngest child.

Just a few years earlier, Dave lost his mother, Noreen, 72, to lung cancer and Michelle’s parents, John and Nora Crowe, 57, had also recently passed away.

After her diagnosis, Michelle was told she had an 8 cm tumor in the left breast and would need chemotherapy.

After that action failed, the mother of two underwent a mastectomy on February 14, 2023.

David said, “The operation went well. We were told – plan away for your summer.”

But a few weeks later, Michelle began complaining of pain in her stomach, leading doctors to discover that her cancer had spread to her liver.

Dave said, “I remember coming in and she looked stone cold dead and ashy.

“It came back with a vengeance. I fell apart.

Michelle was still trying to be cheerful. We both knew what this meant, but we didn’t want to talk about it.

‘We never really needed a closing conversation. We were so in sync.’

While Michelle was being treated at the University of Hospital in Limerick, a nurse asked if they would hold a wedding ceremony there.

He recalled, “She said we could get married in the ward.”

Dave says the ceremony, which took place in the chapel, was “amazing.”

They played their favorite songs, like “Somewhere over the rainbow” by WHO.

Dave said, “She made it her mission to walk down the aisle.

“She looked absolutely stunning.”

The staff hung LED lights around Michelle’s hospital room and left them non-alcoholic wine.

The next day, the doctors told the couple there wasn’t much more they could do, and Michelle slipped away in the wee hours of Saturday, March 25.

Dave said, “We sat around her bed and cracked open a bottle of gin. It’s what she would have wanted.’

The family held a vigil for Michelle the following Monday, saying the church was “full.”

Many villagers also wore pink – the color of the breast cancer campaign – while some dyed their hair or shaved their heads.

Dave said, “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen. Her favorite pastime was sitting in the garden by the fire pit and listening to songs until the wee hours.

“I haven’t listened to a song since. She loved music and our children more than anything else.

She put everyone first. I’ll never look at anyone the same way.’

Dave, who is now raising their two children alone, says he still reaches out to Michelle to hold him in the car and still calls to ask her for a cup of coffee – forgetting she’s gone.

He added: ‘The pain is getting worse and worse. Everyone who met her fell in love with her.

‘She is very small, but very tough and modest. No matter how many times she gets knocked down, she gets back up.

“She was the happiest person you ever met. She was one-in-a-million.”