A bride who requires 24-hour palliative care has revealed her touching vows to her husband knowing their time together is limited.
Amy-Claire Lanman, from Swansea, has an incurable genetic disease, so rare it doesn’t even have a name, which means she suffers severe seizures several times a day and her heart could stop at any moment.
The complex multi-system disease means you live with difficult symptoms, including severe chronic pain, seizures, spasms, visual impairment and breathing problems, to name just a few.
Amy, 29, who was not expected to live beyond childhood and has an end-of-life plan, calls herself an “incurable optimist” and applies her positive attitude to everything she does.
In May 2023 she married her husband, ‘best friend and soulmate’, Lyle, and, a year later, Amy has shared her touching vows to him.
Amy-Claire Lanman, a palliative care patient who requires 24/7 care, has revealed her touching vows to her husband despite knowing their time together is limited.
In a sweet note to her husband posted on her TikTok account @el_optimista_incurableAmy said: ‘As much as I wish I could, I can’t promise you that we will have a long life together; I can’t promise you gray hair, grandchildren and a retirement home by the sea.
Despite not knowing how long they will be together, Amy shared all the positive things she could offer Lyle.
She continued: ‘But this is what I can promise you.
‘I promise you will never be bored. I promise you that you will never be alone. I promise to share with you every one of life’s ups and downs.
‘I promise you that you will always be my favorite person. I promise we will laugh together, every day.
‘I promise you that I will continue to love you more and more, with every breath I take and every beat of my heart.
“And I promise you that no matter how long we are together, we will have a happy life, full of adventures.”
And he added: “A year fulfilling our vows, my love… here’s to many more days, weeks, months and years defying the odds and adventures full of love.”
Amy married her ‘soulmate’ Lyle Lanman in a weekend-long ceremony in May 2023.
For the couple’s 2023 wedding, Amy and Lyle hosted a weekend-long, sunflower-themed celebration, just 11 months after their first date.
As Amy needs to take more than 40 pills each day to manage her condition, her bridesmaid set off her alarms as a reminder, one of which even went off during her speech.
Amy previously said: ‘We have no idea how long I will live; Any day could be my last due to a seizure, spasm, infection, or complication of my condition.
“Every day I wake up is a blast and I make the most of all this amazing, unexpected extra time.”
Viewers were moved by Amy’s moving words and her optimism despite the difficulties of her illness.
They wrote: ‘Beautiful post for your husband’;
‘Happy Anniversary. you’re absolutely destroying it’;
I’m not crying!!!! AMY CLAIRE YOU MADE ME CRY AGAIN’;
‘This is so beautiful.’
Viewers were moved by Amy’s moving words and her optimism despite the difficulties of her illness.
To mark one year since their wedding, Amy and Lyle took a trip to London, where they attended King Charles’ garden party at Buckingham Palace.
As a child, Amy was misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy and has been receiving hospice and palliative care since she was 10 years old.
But when he started having spasms as a teenager, aged 15, his parents were told he could die at any moment.
Amy was told she wouldn’t make it to adulthood, but at 29 she exceeded all expectations and is happily married.
In just her first year of marriage, she suffered multiple health problems, including chest infections, tonsillitis, and scarlet fever.
She even hoped to swim at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, but ended up too ill to compete.
No-one has been able to identify which gene is causing the problems and he receives constant care at City Hospice in Cardiff.
Amy previously appeared on BBC One Wales to talk about her condition, where she recalled a terrifying experience the day before her 19th birthday.
A spasm caused Amy-Claire’s heart to stop and it took health workers eight hours to revive her. Her frightened parents moved her to a 24-hour care center.
Speaking to the BBC at the time, she said: “I don’t remember ever being sick.”
“My friends were growing up and going out and doing all kinds of interesting things while I was going to a children’s hospice… We prepared for the end.”
