04 Feb 2008 - 08 Feb 2008
What's on - Valentines Sweethearts win our £1000 diamond ring!
Neil married his wife in hospital after being given just hours to live 4 years ago!
Neil Barker was able to present wife Jane with a very precious stone after taking the prize in the competition in conjunction with the Lancashire telegraph.
The couple first met in 1982 when they lived in the same street in Shadsworth, Blackburn.
They had a brief teen romance but broke up and went their separate ways.
They were reunited 12 years ago and have been inseparable ever since.
However, despite repeated proposals, Jane, who had previously been married, said she did not want to wed again.
Neil, a former kitchen fitter, was then diagnosed with cardio-myopathy, a serious genetic heart condition.
Following a particularly severe attack, his organs began to fail and doctors at Royal Blackburn Hospital gave him just hours to live.
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| WEDDING DAY: Neil in hospital |
Jane, 35, said: "They said we should get a priest to read Neil his last rites but I decided that if a priest was going to do anything it would be marrying us.
"I rushed to get special dispensation from the register office and bought two rings.
"Neil was in his Rovers shirt with tubes all over the place and I was in a jumper - but it still felt special.
"The hospital even found us a cake and all the nurses and doctors came to watch because it was their first wedding on a ward!"
Neil said: "It was all I had ever wanted. What happened next was like a miracle.
"It was like what Jane did had given me strength. I just got better and better."
Four years on, Neil is still poorly, taking 28 tablets a day to manage his condition.
Jane, a mother-of-three, also acts as his full-time carer.
"She is my rock," said Neil. "She gives me a reason to carry on living.
"I love everything about her from the tip of her little toe to the highest strand of hair on her head."
Competition entrants had to collect three tokens and explain why they should win the 18-carat white gold, 1/2-carat diamond ring.
Neil's story warmed the judges' hearts and beat hundreds of other entries.
The couple, from Ennerdale Avenue, also won a meal at Northcote's restaurant.
Jane said: "I couldn't believe it when Neil told me we'd won.
"I've been on cloud nine ever since."
Vicky Holmes, from The Mall, said: "We were looking for someone who we could help have a really special Valentine's Day.
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