Yasmin and Alex

Yasmin and Alex met on a blind date, arranged by Adele, a very close friend of Yasmin’s. Nothing unusual about that … other than the fact that Adele knew Alex through their involvement in a motor vehicle accident in which Adele sustained extensive injuries with many broken bones. Alex, although physically unharmed, suffered from PTSD after the accident and Yasmin was there to help him through that difficult time. Alex has since been by Yasmin’s side as she goes through her battle with cancer.

Yasmin became unwell in February 2016, and despite many tests, scans and specialist appointments, nothing was found to be the cause. In November 2016, a tumour was discovered and she was assured it was benign. However this proved not to be the case and Yasmin was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer with the tumour actually being a secondary cancer with the primary cancer being from the appendix. This type of cancer is extremely rare, with only 25 known cases in Australia.

Alex was adamant that he would not leave Yasmin, even though she told him that her journey need not be his and that he had his whole life ahead of him. His response was that he needed to ask her dad’s permission to marry her sooner than he had planned but why were they waiting!

In January 2017 Yasmin underwent surgery lasting 11 hours, resulting in a hysterectomy and her having her appendix, gallbladder, and sections of bowel removed. Their dreams of travelling the world, buying property and starting a family started to fade.

Yasmin told us:

“We still talk about the future, but it seems to me more like a dream than a reality. Where we will live, what options are out there to have children seeing I now cannot be pregnant. What holidays we want to enjoy, but reality is, we just don’t know what tomorrow holds. I am strong willed and determined to fight this disease and be the textbook case study that beat all odds, but some days I can only manage a brave face for everyone else, where behind it I am a mess accepting this is how my life has changed. I find this question really hard to answer”.

“I have gone through the ‘why me? – this isn’t fair’ comments but they are not productive. I am very determined to stay strong and fight my hardest to get through this and prove people wrong that this will be very hard to beat. If I lose this battle, I want everyone to remember how strong willed and brave I was throughout the process so they can accept my death easier knowing I never gave up (even though some days it is a mask on my face and I do not believe any of the words I say about being ok and everything will work out)”.

When a friend told her about the My Wedding Wish charity, Yasmin had tears in her eyes and she told us:

“The fact that someone values weddings as much as I do was overwhelming. I have been enjoying our engagement with the idea of a wedding being a dream. Knowing we can’t afford both medical and living expenses if we were to pay for our dream wedding we just accepted to enjoy our engagement as it is all we would have for a long time. Neither of us have been engaged or married before, so it will be very special to both of us. It has been hard watching our friends and family getting married and having children around us when we have to spend our time going to doctor appointments and hospitals”.

Yasmin and Alex’s magical wedding day

Wedding suppliers in the Bowral and surrounding areas really swung into action with a wedding valued at over $23,000 – donations poured in the for popular high school teacher with dress, Rolls Royce, venue, and everything in between. Yasmin dearly wanted to marry at the Chevalier College Chapel where she went to school as a child. The ceremony was conducted by the Minister of the Church.

Wish Co-ordinator, Kerry Fury from Sweet Angels ensured everything was perfect for the couple and after the ceremony they partied into the night with the dearest people in their lives.

My Wedding Wish were so honoured to be able to give the gift of love to Yasmin and Alex.

Update: Yasmin lost her battle on the 9 February 2019.