52 Lives

Life #59

Request: Wedding-related goods and services

This week, 52 Lives wants to help Annie, a 25 year old woman from Walsall, West Midlands in the UK.

Last year Annie and her fiancé Scott were given the wonderful news that Annie was pregnant. The baby was due in January, but in the weeks leading up to Christmas, Annie was having complications and so they delivered the baby early. Their son, Wyatt, was born on December 20th. It was all a bit of a shock for Annie, but what came next would change everything.

Doctors discovered the reason behind the complications - she had an aggressive form of cervical cancer.

What should have been a magical time for Annie and Scott was replaced with illness and hospital visits. Instead of spending time at home with her new baby boy, Annie, a first time mum, was enduring day after day of chemotherapy sessions.

Four months on, Annie is now on a course of radiotherapy, which doctors are hoping will help. But unfortunately, the form of cancer that Annie is battling is incredibly rare, so the likely outcome is unknown.

Annie is still on maternity leave, but this comes to an end in May. She won’t be able to go back to work, which will put a huge strain on them financially.

However, despite all of the adversity that has been thrown her way, her friends say Annie remains the most upbeat and positive person they know. And, now she has something wonderful to look forward to. Her and Scott have decided to get married this August……which is where all of us come in!

Annie used to dream of a big fairytale wedding, but with everything that’s happened, they have decided on a more a low-key, intimate ceremony, followed by a few drinks at their local pub. Given their financial situation, and Annie’s illness, they need to keep things very simple. But we would love to give them a few little extras to help make the day as special as possible for them.

Annie doesn't know yet that we are doing this for them – her friends wanted to keep it a surprise until now. Laura - Annie’s lovely friend who nominated her - said she knows this would mean so much to her … “bringing just a little ray of sunshine into a life that is otherwise currently engulfed by frightening thick, grey clouds.”

What We Did

We had an unbelievable amount of offers from businesses wanting to help Annie and Scott have their dream wedding.. And their story was been picked up by The Metro, the Daily Mail, The Mirror. The total raised was almost £12,000 - our target was £500.

The kindness strangers showed this couple was absolutely incredible.

Annie sadly passed away in July 2016. This is an extract from a note I received from her lovely friend who nominated her.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to say, on behalf of Annie, her family and myself, a MASSIVE thank-you for all of the help that you facilitated and arranged by sharing her story. Despite the huge volume of support that was received, Annie was aware of every single message and was absolutely overwhelmed and bowled over by the kindness of each and every person who got in touch to offer their help. I know that the excitement of the wedding planning helped to keep the sparkle in her eyes for the last couple of weeks and it brings me a great deal of peace to know that Annie passed knowing how many people she had behind her offering to help to create her dream wedding - and more importantly, just how very loved she was.