A selfless husband and wife GP team have been busy vaccinating vulnerable people in their spare time after they brought their wedding forward to help tackle coronavirus.
NHS doctors Dominique Thompson, 49, and Simon Bradley, 63, chose to bring their wedding forward by three months last year, so they could help tackle coronavirus.
Now the couple are going door to door administering the vaccine to vulnerable people in Bristol – on their day off.
Dominique, who came out of retirement to join the frontline medics, said: “We’re a good team. I brought the sandwiches and he brought all the kit and I think it works quite well actually.
“It felt like a really easy simple way of getting round to lots of people in one day was just to get in the car together, go out with the supplies.
“We’ve got our little trolley. We go into people’s houses and we are like a vaccine flying squad.”
Simon, a partner at Concord Medical Centre in Little Stoke, Bristol, added: “Dominique has been doing the talking and I’ve been providing the vaccine but it works very well.
“The quicker we get people vaccinated the safer we get our society. It is really lovely to be able to help some of my patients I’ve known for years, who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to get the vaccine.”
The couple tied the knot in March 2020 with just four wedding guests present, and have been busy working ever since.
The heroic doctor duo have been visiting homes across Bristol, armed with the vaccine and working together, to help protect the most vulnerable from coronavirus.
They have vowed to continue fighting the virus as part of the NHS until the pandemic is over and then will finally go to New Zealand on their well deserved honeymoon.
Dream team Dominique and Simon had been together for 13 years and were finally ready to say ‘I do’ in a summer wedding before the pandemic led them to bringing their big day forward to March 2020.
The rise of coronavirus had resulted in former GP and mental health expert Dominique being called back to active duty with the NHS.
This and the hectic nature of GP Simon’s job as chair of his local GP federation meant the pair knew a summer wedding wouldn’t be possible.
They married at Bristol Register Office in one of the first under new coronavirus restrictions.
It meant just two guests could attend and Dominique’s parents, both over 70, were not allowed.
And the wedding celebrations consisted of a caterpillar cake – and a can of diet coke.
Speaking at the time of their nuptials, Dominique, said: “We thought this would be a great year to get married – our little boy was ecstatic.
“And we were supposed to go to New Zealand in July…waiting to see what happens, but for now the honeymoon involves homeschooling a 10 year old.
“We just wanted to be married to each other, and we knew Jack would be devastated if we cancelled.
“We had to think – what will make me, Simon and the family smile?
“Life is for living, and we have got to focus on small, positive acts.
“Now we are doing what we can to help – trying to help the people we would normally be helping.”
Simon added: “We were really lucky – we could see things running out of control.
“But it’s really simple to get some of that control back. The day was wonderful and lovely.”
Dominique walked down the aisle at Bristol Register Office last year on March 22, the pair being one of the first couples to wed under new legislation limiting the number of guests to five.
Simon had proposed on New Years Eve 2019 – 13 years after the pair met on a local medical committee.
At the beginning of last March, the pair thought their original plans might not be possible, Simon predicting that Dominique would get called out of NHS retirement.
On Monday 15 March, they called the register office who said they had a slot in less than a week.
At this point they still thought their family in Surrey and London would be able to make their ‘micro wedding.’
The pair’s son Jack, 10, and their stepson Henry, 24, were the only family at the celebrations due to their other step-children isolating in London.
The only other guests were friends Jo and Paul, who acted as both witnesses and photographers – always from a distance of six feet.
Simon read ‘Your Little Voice’ by EE Cummings – not only did it express how he felt about his wife-to-be, but also how he felt about the people that couldn’t be a part of their day.
They had booked the restaurant, Little French, for their original wedding celebrations scheduled for June 13th.
Instead the family-run restaurant provided the ingredients for roast beef with dauphinoise potatoes and champagne for the newlyweds to cook at home.
To ensure people smiled on the day, the pair even had a Colin the Caterpillar cake from the local M&S garage.
The pair both wore outfits they already had – in fact the only piece of wedding attire bought for the day was Jack’s Paul Smith football bow tie.
Since then, the newlyweds have been busy working for the NHS with Dominique being one of 65,000 retired medics who was called back to action.