Couple moves wedding date after DOUBLE cancer diagnosis
A recently-engaged US couple made the tough decision to move their wedding date, after finding out within days of each other that they both had cancer.
Mariah Nelesen, 23, and Clay Senek, 24, are high school sweethearts from Michigan who got engaged in December 2020, with plans to tie the knot in June 2022.
However, their plans went awry after Mariah was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and Clay found out he had leukaemia in January - just months before their special day.
“I got a phone call on Jan 11th of this year that I had ovarian cancer,” Mariah told KTLA. “That’s not a call anyone expects to receive.”
Doctors had found a cyst on Mariah’s ovary which was found to be an Adult Granulosa Cell Tumour, according to the couple’s GoFundMe page.
Clay, who had been sick with pneumonia for two weeks and had had some blood work done, was rushed to hospital just eight days after Mariah’s diagnosis.
It was discovered that he had Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
“If you were to ask Clay or Mariah less than six months ago what their plans were, you would hear excitement as Mariah signed a lease to rent a place in Chicago while she planned for her wedding, finished her degree, and would be doing a paid internship in the process,” their GoFundMe page reads.
“Clay was working daily at a job he loved and was counting the days until he and Mariah were going to be married. They would have also shared their excitement about their new house purchase in September that they would look forward to making into their home in the months before their wedding.”
Following the shock diagnoses, Mariah had the tumour surgically removed while Clay began chemotherapy.
Mariah plans to also start chemotherapy soon, as Clay prepares for a stem-cell transplant to fight his “aggressive form” of cancer.
They decided to move their wedding date forward from June to April so they could be healthy on the day, as well as change the venue and guest list to be more intimate “due to their compromised immune systems”.
They have raised $67,800 ($USD 46,359) through their fundraising page, which will go towards medical bills, lost income due to their time in hospital, home payments and their wedding and honeymoon.
Clay shared a photo of him and Mariah posing with matching shirts with the phrase ‘FIGHTER’ on Facebook, with a ribbon on both representing the cancers they were diagnosed with.
“Mariah bought these shirts after we both were diagnosed with cancer 8 days apart,” Clay wrote.
“Orange for my leukaemia and teal for her ovarian cancer.
“This year will not be an easy year, but we are fighters.”
Image: Mariah Nelesen (Facebook)