Days after marrying her sweetheart, cystic fibrosis sufferer Jessica Mogg-Panyadeth slips away

Please see my January 31 post about 27-year-old Jessica Mogg who was married in the hospital to fulfill her dying wish to marry her childhood sweetheart before she passed away. Sadly, Jessica passed away February 9th and my sincere condolences and sympathies are with her family and Jessica's many, many friends.

Jessica Mogg was terminally ill, but she didn't let that end her dream of getting married
Photo: MATHEW McCARTHY, Record staff

By GREG MERCER The Record

Kitchener, Ontario

There was only one thing Jessica Mogg-Panyadeth wanted to do before she died -- marry her longtime boyfriend.

In a special in-hospital ceremony two weeks ago, she got her wish.

Mogg-Panyadeth died Monday at St. Mary's Hospital, after a long battle with cystic fibrosis. She was 27. By her side were her mother Donna Mogg and her husband, Colin Panyadeth. She was described in her obituary just as she wanted to be -- as his "loving wife."

The young woman died peacefully and content, said her grandmother, Dorothy Quinn, 90.

"That was the only thing she wanted," she said. "She knew the end was right there, and she accepted it."

At the time of her wedding, doctors gave her only a few weeks to live. The couple, who had been dating since high school, had originally planned to marry next September.

They sped up the date when Mogg-Panyadeth's condition worsened. Nurses gathered the bride and 50 friends and family into St. Mary's chapel. Mogg-Panyadeth's favourite doctor read a prayer.

It was a fitting ceremony for a woman who was well-known on the sixth floor of St. Mary's, which was like a second home.

"Her life has been spent around hospitals," Quinn said.

Still, the family was struggling last night to deal with the death.

"It's not easy, even when you know it's coming," Quinn said. "We've known what was wrong for 27 years, but it's not any easier."

A funeral will be held Wednesday, February 11th at 1 p.m. in the chapel of the Westmount Funeral Home, Kitchener, Ontario. Visit the site for map and directions.

Email expressions of sympathy to Donna Mogg, Jessica's mother, at d.mogg@rogers.com.

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