This is not the wedding Carly and Jake, both 23, envisaged when they got engaged seven months ago.
But they know they are very lucky to be celebrating their love at all, as time for Jake is running out.
The young Brisbane dad has been told he only has weeks to live after the squamous cell carcinoma – a rare and aggressive head and neck cancer – spread to his lungs.
The pair first met when they were 17. Jake thought he had a toothache, which he soon learned was actually Stage 4 cancer.
“It means everything to us,” Carly says through tears.
“If he does die in the next week or month, he got to experience something he was never going to get otherwise.”
“And his parents get to experience it too – he’s their only child.”
The couple’s romance has been a rollercoaster.
“We’ve been through more in 16 months than many couples go through in a lifetime,” Carly says.
To read their inspirational story and to see all the photos from their wedding day, be sure to pick up a copy of this week’s Woman’s Day magazine!
