This Is Guernsey

By Simon Tostevin

Meningitis survivor Kieran Senior married Amanda Le Prevost on Saturday. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0623311)

MENINGITIS survivor Kieran Senior has tied the knot with his childhood sweetheart, Amanda Le Prevost.

The pair were married at King’s Church on Saturday and left yesterday on their honeymoon – a two-week cruise around the Mediterranean. Mr Senior, 20, described the day as a dream come true after he had beaten the odds in a battle against the life-threatening illness, which struck in December 2006 during a work placement in Reading.

Now, 18 months on and after spending three weeks in intensive care battling to  survive, he is a married man.

In that period he has also found time to graduate from Portsmouth University with a first-class degree, but it was his wedding on Saturday to Amanda that has capped off his victory over a disease that could have resulted in him suffering a brain tumour.

‘I would never have imagined for a minute that I would have been getting with Amanda at the time, let alone getting married to her,’ said Mr Senior.

‘It’s been absolutely magical because I would never have expected it.’

The couple have known each other for more than 10 years but lost contact when he left the island to study.

It was when he returned to his parents’ home in St Peter Port after having suffered a severe case of meningococcal meningitis and encephalitis that a romance blossomed between the pair.

Amanda was the first to visit him and she carried on doing so to help him return to full health.

Their wedding at the weekend carried a Chinese theme because of the pair’s passion for the country and the time the new Mrs Senior had spent in Asia looking after orphans.

She said it had been a beautiful ceremony.

‘The worship was really lovely and a lot of people have commented on how cheerful it was. It was traditional in how it was run but we had put our own touches on it. The Chinese feel was very symbolic for us.’

The couple had written their own vows but had not heard each other’s until Saturday.

‘The reading of the vows was really special. It was hard not to cry and I nearly did towards the end of mine,’ said Amanda.

Mr Senior, who now works as an information-systems developer for Collins Stewart Stockbroking, said it would be a day he would never forget.

‘In June we got engaged knowing there could have been this brain tumour, but we never let ourselves think “what if?”, we never let that come into it. But I got the all- clear and we’ve been absolutely blessed.

‘We just wanted to be together.’

Article posted on 18th August, 2008 - 2.29pm