Navar Herbert and Maia Falwasser loved each other, so they got married. It was not your normal wedding, however. Because just nine months earlier, Navar was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive cancer that had spread to his brain.
Before all that, 22-year-old Navar, originally from New Zealand, was a rugby player with the Nerang Bulls Rugby Union in Gold Coast, Australia. He and Maia had an infant son, Kyrie, and they wanted to be the best parents they could possibly be for him.
But back in October, Navar and Maia learned the devastating news. They couldn’t run from it; couldn’t hide. All they could do was try to get the best treatments possible. When it was recently learned that those treatments would no longer be able to help Navar, he asked his family to take him to the mall. And from a store there he bought an engagement ring for Maia.
Just a week later, on a beautiful late-June day, Maia walked down the aisle in a backyard wedding ceremony and the two exchanged vows, as Navar sat in his wheelchair.
Their families and closest friends were there to support them. They were the one’s who, at a moment’s notice, took care of all that needed to be taken care of for the wedding… the chairs, the flowers, the outfits. They worked to get Navar dressed and then they wheeled him out to the backyard to await his bride. And as Maia walked down the aisle, Navar couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was a beautiful bride.
They then exchanged vows, promising to cherish each other for the rest of their lives. And it was that part that had everyone reaching for the tissues. Because life had throw a cruel curve at them and Navar probably didn’t have much time left.
Then after they were pronounced husband and wife, as what was left of the day’s light set along the horizon, their friends and family clapped and danced. And Navar and Maia smiled. It was a joyous event; it was a beautiful ceremony. Everyone was so happy that the two were now one, something they had wished for for some time.
To love, honor and cherish for the rest of their days. They promised to do that. And they did. Just 30 hours after Navar said “I Do” to Maia, he passed away.
Their time together was short, but in the end, looking back… it was a beautiful thing.
