Bristol lord mayor who recovered from coma gets married in 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) tied the knot with Deborah Griffiths on Saturday, May 18.

The happy couple, who have been together 18 years, wed at the lord mayor’s chapel on College Green in front of about 85 guests and celebrated at a reception at the lord mayor’s mansion house in Clifton. The Dean of Bristol, the Very Revd Mandy Ford, led the ceremony.

Last June, Cllr Goggin developed pleurisy – inflammation of the lining of the lungs – following a bout of pneumonia. He underwent an initial operation at the 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 10 days after the surgery.

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But within 48 hours he was back in hospital with the same symptoms and was moved to the ICU again about two weeks later before medics placed him in a coma and onto a ventilator because his lungs were not working properly. Doctors connected him to machines to oxygenate blood and for kidney dialysis.

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In August they inserted a tracheostomy and began to take him out of the coma. Cllr Goggin became fully conscious again at the start of September and began his long recovery, culminating in walking down the aisle with his beloved “Debs” on Saturday.

Guests included other Bristol city councillors and staff from the BRI. He said: “I've met so many lovely people over the last year including the ICU team that saved my life.

“Debs booked this date whilst I was still in a coma and asked me to say if I objected, which obviously I didn't. I made the promise some time ago in Wetherspoons that if I ever got to be lord mayor, I would propose.

“I did so in the interval of my inauguration meeting last May by getting down on one knee in the lord mayor’s parlour at City Hall.” He said the couple had yet to book a honeymoon but had asked wedding guests to “perhaps donate a fiver which may get us an easyJet flight somewhere warm”.

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

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