A Mother's Last Words

The joy of her wedding day was enriched by her mother's special message

- Sue Hoffart

Jessie McIndoe was 14 the first time she stepped into her mother's wedding dress.

The custom-made satin and lace confection fit so perfectly—mum and daughter shared the same slim build - that the New Zealand schoolgirl immediately turned to face her beaming parent. I'd love to wear this one day, she said, ensuring her lips could be easily read.

Within weeks, the dress was forgotten as Jessie and her parents, Denise and Paul McIndoe, faced frightening news. Cancer had seized hold of Denise's diminutive, endlessly energetic frame. A stage-3 breast cancer diagnosis rocked this small, tightly knit family and launched Jessie on an 11-year journey that would reunite her with the wedding dress and deliver a single, precious, last message from her mother.

Denise had always been small but healthy, though doctors realised she was profoundly deaf soon after her birth in the North Island city of Palmerston North. It was 1960 and a rubella outbreak had swept through New Zealand, damaging the baby girl's inner ear while she was still tucked inside her mother's womb. The hearing impairment failed to slow Denise down as she grew into an outgoing, outdoor-loving woman who cycled, sailed, sewed and loved to laugh.

In early 1989, a hearing-impaired girlfriend invited her to dinner. The friend's brother, Paul, made such an impression, the pair were engaged within three months.