Terminally Ill Man Fulfills Final Wish of Marrying Childhood Sweetheart Before His Dying Day

— -- One man fulfilled his dying wish yesterday when he married his childhood sweetheart with whom he fell in love 50 years ago.

"Because they said he was terminally ill, he wanted to marry," Val Cowen of Blyth, England told ABC News today. "All Arthur ever wanted was to marry me.

"I'm bursting with pride," she added. "I'm happy to be his wife, but there's also a sadness that goes with it."

Cowen, 64, said she and Arthur Holland, 69, first met in 1965 at a disco bar when he asked her to dance.

"He's never done that before in his life," she said. "I was 15 going on 16 and Arthur was 19. Yes, we fell in love."

After dating for nine months, Cowen said, she ended her relationship with Holland.

"The first time when I broke it off I think I just got bored," she said laughing. "It's the only way I can put it. I was so young you see, you want to spread your wings. I wasn't taking things so seriously then."

Cowen said that for the next decade she and Holland went their separate ways, married other people and had their own children.

While Holland traveled the world and lived in Canada, Cowen said she remained in her home in England where she eventually ran her own pub.

Twelve years later, she said, a man strolled into her bar and began striking up a conversation.

"I didn't recognize him at first and after a while he had been staring at me," Cowen recalled. "He said 'You don't know who I am, do you?' I said 'Give me a clue.' and he said 'I'm Dutch.' You see, his last name is Holland, so all the friends called him Dutch.

"Well, you could've knocked me down with a feather."

Upon their reunion, Cowen said, she and Holland been in the midst of divorcing their significant others.

Eight years later, the two moved in together and reignited their romance from 20 years earlier.

"We fell in love over again," Cowen said. "Arthur said that he had carried me around the world with him, even though he was married I was always there in his heart. He had dreamed of marrying me."

Five years ago, Cowen said, the couple's plan to marry was put on hold when Holland was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

The dad-of-one underwent treatment but just one month ago, tests revealed that Holland now had cancer in his jawbone, which then spread to his liver and lung.

"It could be a matter of weeks, it could be a matter of months," Cowen said. "It is terminal and there's nothing anyone can do."

In light of his prognosis, Cowen said Holland asked the staff at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, England if he and his longtime love could marry there in the hospital.

At 1 p.m. yesterday, the couple finally tied the knot in a small ceremony among loved ones complete with flowers, champagne and wedding cake.

"It was bittersweet," Cowen said. "I was so proud of him. He wasn't fit enough to walk and he walked. When I seen his face light up when I walked into the room it was one in a million.

"He said he wanted the world to know how much he loved me and that I was going to be his wife."

After a four-week stay in the hospital, Cowen said she and Holland are thrilled that he is home again.