The Lord Mayor of Bristol, who has returned from a coma, is getting married in a special chapel

The Lord Mayor of Bristol, who spent a month in a medically induced coma last year, has married his fiancee. Cllr Paul Goggin (Labour, Hartcliffe & Withywood) married Deborah Griffiths on Saturday 18 May.

The happy couple, who have been together for 18 years, tied the knot at the Lord Mayor’s Chapel on College Green in front of around 85 guests and celebrated at a reception at the Lord Mayor’s Mansion in Clifton. The Dean of Bristol, Revd. Mandy Ford, conducted the ceremony.

In June last year, Cllr Goggin developed pleurisy – inflammation of the lining of the lungs – following a bout of pneumonia. He underwent initial surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary to remove fluid from his chest and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for a 12-hour stay before being moved to a regular ward and sent home after 10 days after surgery.

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But within 48 hours he was back in hospital with the same symptoms and was moved back to ICU about two weeks later before doctors put him in a coma and on a ventilator because his lungs weren’t working properly. Doctors hooked him up to blood oxygenation and kidney dialysis machines.

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In August they inserted a tracheostomy and began to bring him out of the coma. Cllr Goggin regained full consciousness in early September and began his long recovery, culminating in walking down the aisle with his beloved ‘Debs’ on Saturday.

Guests included other Bristol City Councilors and staff from the BIS. He said: “I have met so many lovely people over the last year, including the intensive care team who saved my life.

“Debs booked this appointment while I was still in a coma and asked me to say if I objected, which I obviously didn’t. I promised a while ago in Wetherspoons that if I ever got to be Lord Mayor I would propose.

“I did this during my inaugural session last May, kneeling in the mayor’s lounge at City Hall.” He said the couple had not yet booked a honeymoon but asked wedding guests to “be able to donate a 5, which can get us an easyJet flight somewhere warm”.

During his launch ceremony last year, Cllr Goggin spoke about his experience of homelessness in Bristol and described his bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder as his “secret superpower” that helped him think slightly differently by most people. He hands over the ceremonial chains of office to his successor Cllr Andrew Varney (Lib Dem, Brislington West) at the council’s annual plenary meeting on Tuesday (May 21).

On Monday, he was announced as part of Labour’s new top team as the minority party on Bristol City Council. Cllr Goggin, a council tenant, will be the lead member of the housing and housing delivery group.