A mum with months to live felt like a “princess” after her community rallied together to throw her the perfect wedding.
Emma Rice, 32, married childhood sweetheart Dava Rice, 34, on April 29, 2023, after local businesses donated the venue, cake, cars, DJ, and photographer for free.
The wedding day was organised just months after Emma was diagnosed with stage four terminal ovarian cancer in January 2023.
Her symptoms began in February 2021, when she started experiencing heavy bleeding from her vagina and discomfort.
Medics thought her contraceptive coil had become dislodged but further
examinations of her cervix revealed the ''devastating truth''.
Despite undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the cancer spread, and Emma was told she had around a year to live.
Emma's best friend, Louise Bell, 29, a teaching assistant, helped organise "the perfect wedding day" with the help of family and friends.
Emma has since gone into St John's Hospice, at Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral, where she is regularly visited by husband Dava and their three kids David Jn, 11, Keeley-Mae, 10, and six-year-old Ariela.
Newly married Dava, a warehouse operator, from Birkenhead, the Wirral, said: “It was the best time of my life.
"My heart hasn't moved past that day - I'm still living it now.
"She finally got the day she deserved.
"We couldn't have done it all with Louise's help - she was incredible and we're so grateful.”
Emma, who used to manage the Claughton Village Sunbed Shop, added: "The wedding day lived up to my expectations and went beyond what I thought was possible.
"I felt like a princess on the day."
Emma and Dava first met as teens through friends, when she was 16 and he was 17, and have been together ever since.
The mum-of-three visited the GP with symptoms in February 2021, who told her the pain was due to her contraceptive coil becoming 'misaligned' and 'lacerating' her womb.
But the pain intensified, so Emma sought advice from a specialist.
Dava said: "The GP was convinced it was the coil.
"They said, 'you're too young for it to be anything else.'
"But she was so anaemic, she was passing out from blood loss and the pain.
"The moment the specialist looked at her cervix, she said she had never seen one that looked like that that wasn't cancer."
Emma was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer in February 2022 and referred to Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool, for treatment.
She experienced acute kidney damage after her first dose of chemotherapy, so she went straight into five weeks of radiotherapy, which finished in October 2021.
The couple were hopeful when Emma went for a PET scan in January 2023, but their world was ''shattered'' when they heard the results.
Dava said: "The cancer had spread.
"We asked how long she had, and they said about a year - our whole world came crashing down.
"Every day feels like it's going too fast when you've got a deadline.
Emma Rice, 32, married childhood sweetheart Dava Rice, 34, on April 29, 2023, after local businesses donated the venue, cake, cars, DJ, and photographer for free.
The wedding day was organised just months after Emma was diagnosed with stage four terminal ovarian cancer in January 2023.
Her symptoms began in February 2021, when she started experiencing heavy bleeding from her vagina and discomfort.
Medics thought her contraceptive coil had become dislodged but further
examinations of her cervix revealed the ''devastating truth''.
Despite undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the cancer spread, and Emma was told she had around a year to live.
Emma's best friend, Louise Bell, 29, a teaching assistant, helped organise "the perfect wedding day" with the help of family and friends.
Emma has since gone into St John's Hospice, at Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral, where she is regularly visited by husband Dava and their three kids David Jn, 11, Keeley-Mae, 10, and six-year-old Ariela.
Newly married Dava, a warehouse operator, from Birkenhead, the Wirral, said: “It was the best time of my life.
"My heart hasn't moved past that day - I'm still living it now.
"She finally got the day she deserved.
"We couldn't have done it all with Louise's help - she was incredible and we're so grateful.”
Emma, who used to manage the Claughton Village Sunbed Shop, added: "The wedding day lived up to my expectations and went beyond what I thought was possible.
"I felt like a princess on the day."
Emma and Dava first met as teens through friends, when she was 16 and he was 17, and have been together ever since.
The mum-of-three visited the GP with symptoms in February 2021, who told her the pain was due to her contraceptive coil becoming 'misaligned' and 'lacerating' her womb.
But the pain intensified, so Emma sought advice from a specialist.
Dava said: "The GP was convinced it was the coil.
"They said, 'you're too young for it to be anything else.'
"But she was so anaemic, she was passing out from blood loss and the pain.
"The moment the specialist looked at her cervix, she said she had never seen one that looked like that that wasn't cancer."
Emma was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer in February 2022 and referred to Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool, for treatment.
She experienced acute kidney damage after her first dose of chemotherapy, so she went straight into five weeks of radiotherapy, which finished in October 2021.
The couple were hopeful when Emma went for a PET scan in January 2023, but their world was ''shattered'' when they heard the results.
Dava said: "The cancer had spread.
"We asked how long she had, and they said about a year - our whole world came crashing down.
"Every day feels like it's going too fast when you've got a deadline.
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Fun