Denis Santos
Watching your wife suffer from sickness is heartbreaking, but seeing her find a new love for you hurts even more.
Clare and John Mauremootoo was just an ordinary couple living in Somerset, United Kingdom, until Clare, 39, suffered from a disease that heavily affected her motor neurons.
Death Wish
Clare’s death wish is far different from other wishes–for John to find new love so their two kids could be guided by a mother figure. She also wanted someone to look after her husband, keep him company.
During her darkest times, she was able to set aside her own feelings and asked the hospital staff at Weston Hospice to help her arrange possible dates for her husband. John, on the other hand, is hesitant to accept his wife’s wish. He is not yet ready to forget what he and Clare had. He wanted to spend more time with her dying wife.
They even had a wonderful Valentine’s Date in 2007 before Clare passed away.
Five days after their last Valentine’s together, Clare died. Thinking about his wife’s last wish, John did not immediately act on it. He thought about what his sons, Jack (10) and Ben (7) would feel.
John Meets Julie
Months after her wife’s death, John signed up for an online dating website. There, she met Julie Macfarlane, a single mother of two. In March 2008, they decided to move in together. But it took them years to tie the knot, because they wanted their kids to grow first.
And in April of 2012, they finally exchanged vows and during their wedding, John spoke about Clare and said he thinks she’s happy now. Happy that he finally fulfilled her death wish.
“During my speech, I talked about Clare’s diagnosis and the time we’d spent together, and her wish for me to find someone special. I told everyone I tought Clare would be smiling down on us. She wanted us to be happy and I think she would be, seeing how things turned out,” John said in an interview.
