Husband dies of COVID-19.
Tommy and Maryanne Pilling were one of the first couples with Down syndrome to marry in the United Kingdom.
The following written content by Jason Duaine Hahn
Tommy Pilling — who gained fame in the United Kingdom after he and his wife, Maryanne, became one of the first couples with Down syndrome to marry in the country — has died of coronavirus complications.
In was in July 1995 that Pilling and Maryanne exchanged vows at a church in Essex after they met two years earlier at a training center for people with learning difficulties.
While the two were the target of critics who believed their marriage wouldn’t work because of their disabilities, they remained together until Pilling’s death from coronavirus-related pneumonia on Jan. 1, just months after he and Maryanne celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in July.
According to the family, Pilling, 62, had been in isolation during the pandemic but contracted the virus during a recent hospital visit.
“Our beautiful Tommy peacefully passed… after a battle with covid pneumonia,” Pilling’s sister-in-law, Lindi Newman, wrote on the couple’s Facebook page on Monday. “Thank you for showing me what unconditional love was, I will remember your beautiful ways forever, your pure heart, your love of music, Elvis, your dancing. Your positive attitude and how you appreciated the small things. Thank you for making Maryanne so happy.”
In a 2017 interview with The Express, Maryanne called her wedding “the best day” of her life, and Pillings her “best friend.”
Their union was a historic one: the two are one of the first couples with Down syndrome — a genetic disorder that causes intellectual disabilities and developmental delays — to marry in the country, according to the BBC.
“Thank you for being you and making the world a better place, touching the lives of millions just by being you,” Newman wrote on Facebook of her brother-in-law. “Marriage made you my brother in law, love made you my brother.”Read more from Health.
