JUST two years after Tom Nabarro met the girl he wanted to marry, he was paralysed for life from the neck down in a snowboarding accident.

Refusing to let his passion for Ellen Stewart be thwarted, he proposed to her over dinner at The Perch pub in Binsey, and the couple were married in 2012.

Last week, the Standlake couple’s inspiring story saw them awarded the title of Ultimate Love Story at Cosmopolitan’s Ultimate Women Awards.

Mr Nabarro says their love for each other made staying together the “easy option”.

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The 30-year-old, who writes software for a living, said: “It was amazing just to be on the shortlist, let alone win. We couldn’t quite believe it.”

After seeing off thousands of competitors for the title, the husband and wife picked up their award at a ceremony in London on Wednesday, December 3.

The awards were hosted by DJ Fearne Cotton and presented to the winners by pop star Pixie Lott, who read their story to the audience of hundreds.

Former Cherwell School pupil Mr Nabarro said: “It was a nice story of the way love can overcome obstacles, which definitely rings true for us.

“When Pixie Lott was reading out our story, she spoke about the time I had spent in hospital and Ellen’s support for me.

“We did grow together as a couple, and we are still very much in love.”

The couple met at a music festival in Switzerland when they were 19.

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  • Receiving their award from singer Pixie Lott

Mr Nabarro, a former footballer with Summertown Stars and a keen snowboarder, was with a group of his friends and Ellen Stewart from Winchester with hers.

He said: “It was all a bit fateful.

“We were obviously attracted to each other and we weren’t necessarily going to meet again.”

The groups went their separate ways, and Mr Nabarro said he was “kicking himself” for not asking for her number.

By pure chance they bumped into each other again, finding each other among thousands of other festival revellers. The pair did not leave each other’s side for the next three days, and the relationship carried on back in the UK.

Then in April 2007, Mr Nabarro was paralysed in a snowboarding accident in Bulgaria.

He dislocated his neck, suffered three cardiac arrests and was unconscious for three weeks.

He spent a year at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

After he was discharged in 2008, the future Mr and Mrs Nabarro moved in together in a specially-adapted extension to his grandfather’s home in Standlake.

Mrs Nabarro is touring the UK as a theatre set designer and when not working Mr Nabarro raises awareness for people with disabilities in work.

Mr Nabarro said: “I’m not sure there is any secret to our love, it’s just about carrying on.

“We don’t take things for granted, we live for one another.

“It doesn’t feel like we’ve done anything to win this award, but it’s lovely that they recognised we have this bond.”

 

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