A Wedding to Remember: Robert and Coral’s Love Shines at Peter Mac
20 February 2025
In a quiet and deeply moving ceremony at Peter Mac this week, Robert and Coral exchanged their wedding vows—a moment they had long dreamed of but never imagined would come so soon.
Robert, a retired engineer, was first diagnosed with liposarcoma—an aggressive and rare cancer of the fatty tissue—three years ago. Surgery initially gave them hope, but in January this year, the cancer returned, as Robert puts it, “with a vengeance.”
Originally planned for March 24, their wedding date was brought forward again and again as it became clear that waiting wasn’t an option.
In just a matter of days, their loved ones worked tirelessly, moving mountains to make their wedding happen before Robert has surgery again.
"My daughter and Coral worked so hard to make it happen," Robert says. "They pulled out all the stops, and somehow, we made it happen in a day.”
Their path to this moment has been anything but easy. Yet when Coral stepped out in her wedding dress, all the heartache and fear faded away.
“Seeing Coral walk in, looking so beautiful, all I could do was kiss her,” Robert says, his face lighting up with a smile. “We did it in reverse order.”
“And the hospital staff were so amazing.
“From the volunteers downstairs, who gave me a haircut and helped Coral get ready, to the staff on Ward 3A who were so warm in sharing their excitement and enthusiasm as well as David who coordinated the space for us,” he said.
Robert met Coral after losing his first wife to brain cancer. When the weight of grief finally began to lift, he returned to the dating world in 2018.
After “lots of coffees with about 13 different women,” he struck up a conversation online with Coral—and something felt different.
"Within a week, I knew I loved her. She was the one," Robert says without hesitation.
A few months later, under the warm, golden skies of Bali, he proposed. From that moment, they were inseparable.
For Robert, having the wedding this week wasn’t just a romantic gesture.
"One of my biggest motivations was making things easier for Coral once I’m gone," he shares.
"You can only do what you can do. Once you're gone, you're gone. But it’s the ones left behind who carry the weight of it all.”
Robert is scheduled to have another major surgery at the end of the week.
“Rather than just give up, I’m going to fight it,” Robert says with quiet determination.
“I’ll keep going as long as I can. Hopefully, this operation buys us a little more time—but who knows how much?”
As Robert prepares for his surgery and the uncertainty the future holds, he says he now feels complete after marrying the woman that he loves.
“It sounds a bit old fashioned, but we’re a whole couple now,” he says.