We planned our wedding in 4 weeks after my wife was diagnosed with cancer
A couple have revealed how they managed to plan their wedding in just four weeks after the bride was diagnosed with a stage four brain tumour.
When Vicky Payne's voice began to slur and she had two seizures in quick succession it prompted her partner, Kyle, 32, now her husband, to drive her straight to hospital.
At the time the couple were heading to Scotland for a family holiday with their two children, Casper, 10 and Marley, seven.
"She started to have difficulty finding her words," Kyle, a care manager, from Andover, Hampshire, explains of Vicky's sudden symptoms.
"She also started experiencing slurred speech and said she had a funny taste in her mouth.
"We had no idea what was happening."
Kyle says Vicky had no health concerns before the started struggling with her words.
"An hour prior to her falling ill we were visiting Brinham Rocks," he explains.
But when Vicky's face also started to droop, Kyle decided to rush her straight to the nearest A&E at Darlington Memorial Hospital.
"Within two minutes of us arriving, as a nurse was taking Vicky's blood pressure, the left side of her face started to droop severely, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and the whole left side of her body started to jerk and shake uncontrollably," Kyle recalls.
"I had to shout for help, and my children and I were rushed into a family room so that our children didn't have to see mum in such a scary way."
While in the family room, Kyle was told that because Vicky had experienced three of these events within 10 minutes, they would need to sedate her if she did not stop.
"I was later advised that this type of seizure is called a tonic-clonic seizure and follows a focal seizure, which we later learned she'd experienced in the car," Kyle explains.
"We were very lucky that Vicky was surrounded by clinicians when she experienced her first tonic-clonic seizure, especially considering that earlier we had got stuck in the snow, and that I had driven to the nearest ED and didn't call for an ambulance as I had no idea where I was."
Unbelievably, just four hours after arriving at the hospital the couple received the devastating news that Vicky had a brain tumour.
At that time, however, doctors believed it could be benign.
The couple were advised to abandon their holiday and drive back home to see neurologists at Southampton General Hospital and it was there they learned that the tumour was in fact malignant - cancerous.
"Vicky broke down in tears," Kyle says of the moment the couple were told. "She is a mum first and foremost and she was thinking of her kids.
"I struggled too," he continues. "I had to stop on the drive home as I broke down in tears.
"At that moment, your future is crushed."
Vicky had been diagnosed with grade 4 astrocytoma with IDH-mutant - the most aggressive and most common type of brain cancer and had an awake craniotomy on 20 March 2024.
"The tumour was on her frontal lobe, they said it was bigger than a golf ball," Kyle explains.
"Due to the location of the tumour, Vicky had to stay awake so that surgeons could make sure she didn't lose any mobility."
Though Kyle and Vicky had been engaged since 2014, they didn't have a date in the diary, but following Vicky's diagnosis the couple decided to finally get married.
They immediately set about booking and organising their big day and tied the knot just four weeks after Vicky started treatment.
"It gave her something to look forward to while she was having these intensive treatments," Kyle expains.
"Instead of feeling negative, it perked her up."
The couple married at their local registry office in Basingstoke on May 10, surrounded by 50 of their closest family and friends.
"Originally, we intended to have a wedding with the two of us and two witnesses but we decided to have 50 people," Kylie explains.
"The day went really well considering it was planned in four weeks.
"It was a perfect day. At night the northern lights were visible and for us that was a sign.
"The wedding was long overdue," Kyle continues. "We should have done it years ago but the day itself was so magical."
Vicky adds: "I found the day really really enjoyable.
"We had lost of friends come over, we had a lovely reception in the afternoon with our friends and family.
"It was beautiful, it was a lovely sunny day - it was really warm."
Vicky has now completed six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and is waiting for MRI results to see what the next steps of her treatment will be.
Kyle says Vicky has been given a prognosis of 12 months plus, which is something the family are struggling with.
"For me, I know that Vicky might not be here in five to 10 years and I am going to have to bring the kids up which is scary," he explains.
"Vicky has said that all she wants to do is watch the kids go through school and watch them grow up.
"I hope she gets that time but for now we are trying to make as many memories as possible."
Catherine Fraher, director of services and digital health at The Brain Tumour Charity, said: “We're really grateful to everyone who shares their - often heartbreaking - story to raise awareness of brain tumours.
"We know that every family deals with a brain tumour diagnosis and its aftermath in their own unique way.
"That's why The Brain Tumour Charity offers support to anyone who needs it. It’s so important for them to know that they are not alone."
Additional reporting SWNS.
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