A man who tied the knot while hooked up to a chemotherapy machine yesterday vowed to live life to the full after discovering his cancer has returned.
Stephen Harper, 31, entered into a civil partnership with long-term partner Gavin in a hospital ward shortly after being diagnosed with non Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year.
Instead of a honeymoon, he went through six months of treatment before the tumour in his stomach finally went into remission in October.
Life appeared to return to normal, and the pair officially converted their civil partnership into a marriage two months later.
But as they entered the history books as one of the first gay couples in Aberdeen to tie the knot, they were given the devastating news that Mr Harper’s cancer had returned.
They have now exhausted almost all of their options on the NHS and are desperately seeking alternative treatments in the hope of being able to spend more time together.
Friends have also rallied round, donating more than £2,600 so the pair can tick off as many as the ambitions on Mr Harper’s “bucket list” as possible.
Last night he said his devastating diagnosis had also spurred him on to fulfil all of his dreams.
He said: “It has made me want to enjoy the time I have.
“I do have days when I have meltdowns, sometimes it just feels like it’s a bad dream and I’m going to wake up, but the situation has made me realise the urgency in doing things as opposed to putting them off.”
Mr Harper, from Torry, was diagnosed with cancer last April after suffering pains and sweating that kept him up all night.
He went to the doctor thinking he had caught a common virus and was shocked to learn he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – a cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, the body’s network of glands.
Initially, the couple were told chemotherapy had worked but in December they were told the cancer had returned and Mr Harper had further treatment last month.
He finished his final radiotherapy session last week, although the cancer remains, and they are now planning trips to New York and London in order to make the most of their time away from the hospital.
The pair’s fund-raising page can be found at:
http://www.gofundme.com/p2v5d8/
