Campbell River, B.C., couple stage 'mousy marriage' in hospice care

Mary Davidson will never forget meeting Sean Adelberg for the first time.

“He had these gorgeous blue eyes,” Mary smiles before laughing. “And he had a cute butt!”

And Sean will never forget how deeply they connected during a dark time.

“[Mary] was this bright light,” Sean smiles. “She helped me believe in myself again.”

The couple inspired each other to get sober and start living a healthy lifestyle, which included making martial arts video for kids during the pandemic.

“And I wore these,” Mary says placing a pair of plush mouse ears on her head.

She started wearing the mouse ears behind the camera to make Sean feel more at ease in front of it.

“And sure enough when you see a beautiful adult woman wearing mouse ears…”Sean starts laughing before saying it just makes everything feel far more fun.

“So then I thought I’m going to wear this all the time,” Mary laughs.

And she did.

“For us it just symbolizes the playfulness of our relationship,” Sean says. “The love. The laughter.”

It felt like they were living in a joyful dream until Mary suffered a series of sudden seizures.

“That was the beginning of this nightmare,” Sean says.

Mary was diagnosed with stage-four brain cancer. Despite enduring surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, it remained terminal.

“I just thought that’s it,” Mary says. “Life’s over.”

But Sean says he was committed to making the most of the time they had left.

“I wanted to show Mary that I wasn’t going anywhere,” Sean says. “That no matter what happened, I will be there until the end.”

So, after Mary was placed in hospice care, Sean proposed.

“I had a smile from side to side,” Mary recalls after saying yes.

That was followed by the couple being overwhelmed with gratitude that hospice staff had teamed up with local businesses to donate everything they needed to stage a wedding ceremony.

The bride and groom wore matching mouse ears.

After exchanging vows, Sean started serenading Mary with ‘You Are My Sunshine.’ Eventually everyone in the room joined him, while Mary reached up to stroke her husband’s cheek, when she wasn’t wiping away her tears.

“It was amazing,” Mary smiles. “My heart was totally full.”