28-year-old Martine Kiliminster was told her back pain was nothing serious when she went to the doctor in June this summer.
Doctors just wrote off the back pain as muscular spasms, but it turned out that the discomfort was anything but benign.
Then the mum-of-two lost all feeling in her legs in August, while on holiday in Benidorm.
“As soon as I had scans on my spine it was revealed that there was huge tumour crushing my spinal cord,” Martine told The Independent.
Within four weeks she lost her ability to walk due to stage four spinal glioblastoma.
Besides being paralysed from the waist down, the Bradford mum was also told she only had six to 18 months left to live.
After hearing this devastating news, Martine knew she wanted to spend the rest of her time with her loved ones, including her partner of 12 years, Christopher.
The couple decided to get married, and Christopher whipped up the wedding in one month.
He worked as hard as possible to make the day extraordinary for Martine.
“My wedding was one of the best days of our lives, the first dance, the speeches, the decorations, everything was perfect,” said the lovely bride.
Christopher even surprised his new wife by lifting her out of her wheelchair for their first dance together.
“Christopher struggled to get me out of my wheelchair at first,” she said, “But once he'd picked me up properly we were able to enjoy our first dance.”
Martine swayed along to Aerosmith’s ‘I don’t want to miss a thing’ with the love of her life as guest looked on, teary-eyed.
The mum is currently undergoing chemotherapy, and the couple hopes to have their honeymoon next year.
Looking back on the wedding, Martine said, “Everyone around us was crying and despite it being an emotional day, I loved every second.”
This is absolutely so heartbreaking, but also heartwarming, to hear.
