This wasn’t an imaginary scenario for one woman, it was an all too bitter reality.
Brandon and Theresa Lepow were busy preparing for their wedding, and after months of planning and organising, it looked like they were on track towards the happiest day of their lives.
Unbeknownst to them, their lives were about to change forever. Brandon was sick.
He told told Cosmopolitan US: ‘The first sign something was wrong happened when Theresa and I went for a run together before work one day. On the way back to our place, I had a really sharp pain in my chest and had to stop… I went to the doctor, who thought I bruised a rib in basketball. He told me to take anti-inflammatories. I did, and I felt better. But then, in late September, I went for a run and got unusually winded. A few nights later, I couldn’t sleep I was in so much pain.’
Following a series of tests, doctors broke the news to Brandon. He had cancer.
Doctors informed him he was suffering of a rare type of cancer: T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The diagnosis shocked the couple to the core, but rather than allow it to come between them, it only proved how much they love each other.
They decided to move their wedding forward.
‘Brandon’s type of cancer moves fast and goes to the brain. His doctor guessed that his tumor was relatively new, so we couldn’t wait another day.’
Having their ‘dream’ wedding soon became less of a priority, but they wouldn’t let cancer stand in the way of them becoming man and wife.
But reality hit, as Brandon describes: ‘A few days before the wedding, my hair started falling out. I’d told Theresa that I would just shave it. But watching it fall out in clumps in the shower was really scary and made everything feel very real. The last thing I wanted on our wedding day was to look like a cancer patient. I didn’t want it to be a sombre day. I didn’t want everyone to be thinking about cancer.’
The realised what truly mattered. They no longer felt the need to have the perfect dress, the perfect cake or a military precise wedding schedule. All they needed was each other. With each other, and together they would battle Brandon’s illness- as husband and wife.
Theresa said: ‘Walking down the aisle, I felt so loved. I’d known I wanted to marry Brandon from the first day I met him, and it was finally happening, and I was so happy.’
Brandon is now in remission, proving that true love conquers all.