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Alicia and Kevin got married two years ago (Picture: Wales News Service)

Husband says goodbye to 'kind and beautiful' paraplegic wife

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Alicia Willow-Clarke, 35, was left paraplegic after a tragic road accident as a toddler when she was hit by a car.

She had a broken neck and needed round-the-clock care from two nurses.

As Alicia, from Cardiff, got older, she was determined to find love and decided to start online dating.

She always longed for her big white wedding and met her perfect man Kevin, 36, who she married two years ago.
 
Kevin says they were the two happiest years of their lives before Alicia, who was paralysed from the neck down, tragically died from renal failure.
 
Kevin said: ‘I feel so lucky to have met Alicia and spent the short precious time I did with her. She made me smile each and every day,’ Kevin said.
 
‘I never saw her disability – I just saw a beautiful woman full of kindness and love.’

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Alicia became paralysed after a road accident in her childhood (Picture: Wales News Service)

Alicia died suddenly at her home surrounded by her family earlier this month.
 
Heartbroken Kevin said: ‘Alicia told me from the start that she had a disability and was paralysed from the neck down but it didn’t matter at all.
 
‘She had such a wicked personality and we just laughed so much. I guess it was kind of love at first sight. 

‘I loved Alicia so much and was proud to call her my wife.’

Alicia was left in a coma for eight months after her childhood accident and it wasn’t until she was five she was able to return home.
 
Throughout her life, Alicia refused to let her disability define her.
 
Kevin added: ‘She was the kindest person I have ever met and I know she was loved deeply by so many people.
 
‘To me, she was the most beautiful woman in the world and I will miss her lovely smile more than words can say.
 
‘Her passion reflected her own life philosophy; she refused to allow her disability to constrain her. She focused on her ability not her disability.
 
‘Everything was possible with Alicia – she learned to knit, paint, and draw with her mouth. She was determined to live every moment and do all that she could.
 
‘She never felt sorry for herself or bitter about the hand life had dealt her. She just embraced it.’

Kevin says the day they got married was the best day of their lives.

At the time, Alicia said; ‘For the first time I’d met a man who was seeing the real me and not my disability.’
 
It was Alicia who popped the question and had to use her mouth to put the engagement ring on Kevin’s finger.
 
Determined Alicia made her way down the aisle in her motorised wheelchair.
 
She said: ‘I know Kevin adores me for who I am and that makes me feel the luckiest woman in the world.
 
‘I’m so proud to call him my husband and I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with him.’