Nicole Miller survived a random rock-throwing attack to marry the man who stayed by her side while she recovered.
The bride was late, as brides often are. The fact she was there at all was nothing short of miraculous.
Her very presence, an answer to prayer. This was the beautiful day many feared they’d never see, and the moment wasn’t lost on anyone, especially the quietly awestruck groom.
For there she was, radiant and tearful beneath a white veil, walking towards the stoic young man who only a short time ago had spent endless hours by her comatose body, begging her to return to him.
Nicole Miller, the girl who captured our hearts when she suffered horrendous head injuries after being hit by a rock hurled from an overpass, has married her childhood sweetheart, Andrew Timbs.
The ceremony was held by the sea, at Wollongong’s Novotel Northbeach, just south of Sydney. As soon as Nicole appeared, resplendent in an organza and Swarovski crystal gown on the arm of stepfather Ross Tillett, joy and tears became intermingled.
The catch phrase, “I never thought we’d see this day,” was whispered by guests, with thankfulness.
Nicole had chosen to walk down the aisle to Celine Dion’s Because You Loved Me, the lyrics summing up the role Andrew has played these past 16 months. “You were my strength when I was weak, you were my voice when I couldn’t speak, you were my eyes when I couldn’t see.”
“I’m more in love than ever with this beautiful man,” says Nicole, who has returned to her job as a beautician. “He’s a very quiet man with great strength. He doesn’t give too much away about the pain he’s gone through. The song sums it up best; he did everything I couldn’t do, and it was all because he loves me.
“He had to make the decisions for me … He’s been there with me every step of the way.”
It was in the early hours of July 22, 2007, that Nicole’s life changed forever.
“I was coming back from what was meant to be a nice night out,” she says, her voice trembling with the memory. “I hardly ever went out, as I was always working. The one night I decided to go out with girlfriends to Wollongong, and that happened.”
