jessica
The Perfect Wedding
For most brides, their wedding day is the most important day of their lives. They agonize over every special detail, making sure the food, the cake, and guest list are absolutely flawless.
However, Laurin wasn’t like most brides. To her, the wedding wasn’t as important as walking down the aisle and dancing with her husband.
Unfortunately, her making it to that day wasn’t guaranteed.
Tired Yet Determined
It was a beautiful morning when Laurin sat in front of her bathroom mirror. Tired and on the verge of being nauseous, she reached deep inside for the courage to do what she had to do. With the wedding only three weeks away, she couldn’t worry about trivial matters.
Losing Hair
With her fiance Michael standing behind her, Laurin tried to find the strength to move forward with her plan. Due to her tense rounds of chemo, she had noticed in the shower that morning huge clumps of hair were falling out. She had two choices: walk down the aisle bald or pray the effects of the chemo subsided.
However, she knew she only had one option…
The Power of Online Dating
Laurin had met Michael on the online dating site, Plenty of Fish and their romance was anything but a fairytale in the beginning. It had been three years ago while suffering from Stage-2 breast cancer, that Michael reached out to Laurin.
End of the Fight
During that time, Laurin had come to the end of her chemotherapy and was waiting for a double mastectomy. She considered herself a warrior, ready to take on whatever life threw at her. Wanting to display her strength, Laurin participated in a photo shoot depicting her giving cancer a good ‘ole punch!
The Truth About Breast Cancer
Laurin surviving her ordeal with breast cancer was a true testament to her strength. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. In the United States, it’s estimated that 252,000 women will be diagnosed every single year.
Survival Rate
Since 1990, the death rates from breast cancer have been on the decline. This is due to better tools for early detecting. Unfortunately, over 45,000 women will still die every year from the disease.
Thankfully, Laurin would not be one of them.
Treatments
While Laurin chose to fight her cancer with chemotherapy and then follow it up with a double mastectomy, there are other treatments available. Some women opt for radiation treatments, while others change their diet and hope an all-natural remedy will work.
Picture Perfect
Laurin decided to make her fighting cancer photo her dating profile picture. She didn’t want to hide the fact that she was bald, and wanted people to know she was a strong woman.
It would be this picture that caught Michael’s attention.
True Love
While Michael and Laurin’s initial messages were flirty and innocent, they soon grew into hour-long conversations on the phone. Only a day later, they met for coffee and the rest is history. A few weeks later, Laurin would come out of her mastectomy surgery and Michael would be waiting for her with a bouquet of daisies.
A Very Special Man
Once Laurin was out of the woods and recovering, Michael decided it was time to make their relationship official. He knew she was the woman he wanted in his life. According to Laurin, she knew he was the one as well.
“He was a special guy,” explained Laurin. “I come home from a double mastectomy, and he’s in my room … can’t wait to give me a hug, can’t wait to kiss me.”
I’m A Survivor
It would be April of that same year when Laurin would receive the best news of her life…her cancer was gone. Despite her long road to recovery, Michael had made it special each step of the way.
Michael was devoted to her and Laurin realized she couldn’t deny her own feelings. This was the man she wanted to marry.
A Proposal to Remember
Michael and Laurin would spend the next few years as a happy and adventuring couple. They traveled to the Bahamas, the Grand Canyon and then to Niagara Falls. It was at Niagara that Michael got down on one knee and pulled out a sapphire ring…
Three Years to the Day
Overcome with emotion, Laurin stared down at the man she had grown to love and said, “Yes.” The couple decided to get married on March 24th, marking three years since they first met at the coffee shop. Next, they would begin the craziness of wedding preparations.
Unfortunately, life had other plans…
A Life-Changing Call
In August of 2017, Laurin received a call she had not been expecting. After surviving Stage-2 breast cancer, it had returned. Even worse, it had spread to her bones, liver, lungs and was now Stage 4. To say the news was a blow would be an understatement.
The Problem with Stage Four
Stage-4 lung cancer is when cancer has metastasized and spread throughout the body. Most patients aren’t diagnosed until this stage and usually, patients are given a five-year survival rate.
Aggressive Treatment Options
Laurin knew the treatment options for Stage-4 would be aggressive, painful and weren’t guaranteed to succeed. It was going to be a rough road and she feared Michael might not want to take the journey a second time around.
Still Moving Forward
“Do you still want to marry me?” she asked as she sat by the phone weeping. Michael replied with an emphatic “Yes, I asked you. We’re not changing anything.”
Despite her diagnosis, Laurin and Michael were going to get married. However, Laurin’s doctors emphasized she should move up the wedding date. Due to how advanced her cancer was, the doctors worried she might not make it to March.
Not Changing A Thing
Michael and Laurin thought about their options long and hard before choosing to ignore the doctors’ advice. They didn’t want to rush their wedding, which to them felt like they would be giving into cancer.
The wedding would move forward as planned and on schedule.
From Bad to Worse
Laurin fought back with aggressive rounds of chemotherapy, hoping to send the cancer back into remission. Unfortunately, her health only got worse, with cancer invading continuing to spread. Once again, the doctors recommended she move up her wedding date and for the first time Laurin began to think they were right.
Don’t Give Up
However, Michael urged Laurin to stick to her guns. She had survived before and he would be with her every step of the way once again. Thankfully, there was a ray of hope and in 2018 Laurin was accepted into a clinical trial.
She prayed it would be a success.
The Big Day Arrives
Thankfully, Laurin made it to her wedding day in March. She felt amazing and thanks to her new short hairstyle didn’t need to spend hours primping. She was ready to marry the man of her dreams…
Finding Her Strength
Laurin’s brother walked her down the aisle a few hours later. Since she lost both of her parents to cancer, it was special to have her brother give her away. The service was beautiful and a wonderful moment in front of her family and friends.
Dancing the Night Away
As Laurin had planned the previous year, she got to spend the night dancing with her husband. It was a beautiful night and she looked forward to spending what time they had together.
However, it seemed that would be longer than she expected…
Finding Healing
Months later, Laurin would make a post on Facebook she never thought possible: “Scans results are in……..BOTH of the tumors we have been tracking went DOWN! The rest of the Metastatic spots are too small to measure and they are stable! We were able to start cycle 3 today as well!! “Basically…..THE CLINICAL TRIAL IS WORKING!!!!!!!!”
Not Taking Life For Granted
Despite her clinical trial working, Lauren knows being a cancer survivor her time left is not guaranteed. However, she refuses to let that stop her from living her life to the fullest. Currently, she’s planning a trip to Italy for her 30th birthday. We wish them both love, long life, and prosperity.
Silvia
