A newlywed couple had their wedding night disrupted when the bride suffered an ‘injury’ that left her in grave danger. Sarah Wintrip, 38, experienced groin pain during her flight to Jamaica for her wedding to Luke Wintrip, 36, earlier this month.
Initially dismissing the discomfort as a potential ‘gym injury,’ Sarah proceeded with the wedding despite a noticeable ‘uncomfortable’ feeling, choosing not to alarm her guests.
The pain, however, was immense on her wedding night, preventing her from sharing a first dance with Luke. Sarah’s condition worsened upon returning to the UK on May 20, where she was met by paramedics at the airport and taken to the hospital.
Doctors discovered a ‘huge’ cyst in Sarah’s groin that had erupted mid-flight and turned septic, necessitating ‘life-saving’ surgery. Now recovering in Essex, UK, Sarah is dealing with an open wound as the abscess heals.
“I would never have expected this to happen on my wedding day,” Sarah shared. “We’ve still not consummated the wedding. We’ve really tested the wedding vows in sickness and health.”
Recalling the flight, Sarah noted, “It felt like I’d been in the gym and I’d been doing lunges and I’d lunged a little bit too hard.” A friend questioned her about recent gym activity, but Sarah, who hadn’t exercised in months, knew something was amiss.
Following the wedding, Sarah stayed up to watch the sunrise but grew worried when she noticed a ‘visible lump’ that was ‘hot to touch.’ She described her nights as being filled with intense pain and fever dreams.
At the hospital, an ultrasound and CT scan revealed the serious cyst. “I knew that if I went into a Jamaican hospital I’d die in a Jamaican hospital. I wanted to see my children again,” Sarah recounted.
She continued, “I just needed to get on that flight and get back to England.” Despite others attributing her symptoms to a hangover, Sarah felt the worsening condition, intensified by the flight’s air pressure, leading to the cyst’s explosion.
A friend’s antibiotics proved crucial in staving off catastrophe, as Sarah explained, “I was two hours from death and if she hadn’t given me those antibiotics, I would’ve died.”
Now, Sarah urges others to trust their instincts if they suspect a health issue. “It’s been very tearful. You get married thinking ‘I’ve got years and years to spend my life with you’,” she said. “When something like that happens it’s a jolt to reality.”
Advising others, Sarah emphasized, “Go with your gut because my gut the whole time was saying ‘go back to England’. Knowing now how rare it is and how difficult it was to figure out I was right, I would’ve died in Jamaica.”
She concluded, “Do not delay. I had no choice because I had to go back to England. But if there’s something up and there’s something you’re worried about, just get it looked at, don’t sit on it. You know your own body.”