A TERMINALLY ill man fulfilled his dream of getting married with a “lovely” wedding at a Hampshire hospice.

Gioseph and Belinda Fuga took their vows at The Countess of Brecknock Hospice, Andover, on Sunday.

The pair, of Cromwell Road, Winchester, say they “fell in love at first sight” during their first date.

Gioseph, 49, who has terminal bowel cancer, said they spent their first date at Mrs Fuga’s house after he had attended a hospital appointment.

He said: “We’re both quite straight-talking people and we’ve both been through some rubbish in our lives so after my hospital appointment she invited me round for an hour.

“I was there for nine hours, we were chatting for ages.

“It was the longest date of my life.

“I just opened the door and to be honest I thought it was love at first sight – I was absolutely gobsmacked.

“It just progressed quite quickly, fell in love, we just went along with it and [the wedding] just happened.

“It was lovely.”

Gioseph did not find out his illness was terminal until after the pair got together.

They married less than ten weeks later with the help of the hospice and registrars Maris Vernon and Pat Morgan.

On their first date Belinda saw her future husband arrive with a massive bunch of roses.

The 53-year-old, who is a palliative care nurse, was visiting Mr Fuga at The Countess of Brecknock Hospice over the Easter bank holiday when nurses mentioned they could hold a wedding.

Mr Fuga added: “It was beautiful, the nurses put a room together, the registrars were really nice.

“It was very nice, it couldn’t have been better.

“Everyone bent over backwards to help us.”

The couple said they wanted a simple wedding and enjoyed getting ready together on the day and even bought their wedding rings from Argos.

Mrs Fuga said they are now looking forward to “making memories” together, with Joe adding: “We’re just treating every day like it’s our last day and enjoying life together, simple as that.

“It’s been unbelievable.

“I can’t put into words how much we thank them for what they’ve done.

“Everyone was really, really lovely and they made everything right.”