My wife and I planned our hospital wedding in 48 hours when I thought I had days to live – but it gave me the strength to keep fighting and a year later I’m in remission from cancer
A dying groom married his wife in hospital as he feared he had only days to live – but more than a year later he went into remission after the wedding gave him the strength to fight on.
Zach Stroup, 27, married the love of his life, Maddie, 25, at the Colorado Blood Cancer Institute, where he was treated for the disease, in April 2022.
The Colorado couple rushed to prepare for the big day after Zach’s condition worsened and they feared he only had days to live.
However, Zach said the special day completely changed his perspective and gave him a reason to continue fighting the devastating disease – at a time when he felt ready to give up.
He said: “I think it was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced – everything was so dark and for so long, but the wedding was a turning point for me.”
Zach and Maddie Stroup at a hospital wedding in 2022, after Zach’s health deteriorated.
Zach’s cancer had spread to his spinal cord and nearly paralyzed him, so the couple rushed to get married.
“I don’t think I would have gotten through it if it wasn’t for that day.”
The couple met when they were in high school and were living the “perfect life” before Zach was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
Zach explained how he started complaining of fatigue and constant night sweats, but was prescribed medication and expected everything to return to normal.
But in November 2020, his symptoms worsened and after a hospital visit he was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an aggressive form of blood cancer.
After six months of treatment, he was declared in remission in April 2021 when the couple traveled to Florida and Zach proposed to him.
With life returning to normal, they set their wedding for May 7, 2022, but in September 2021, Zach fell ill again.
He began to lose mobility in his legs and became almost paralyzed, so he was rushed to hospital where he was told he had a spinal cord tumor.
Zach underwent additional chemotherapy and was still receiving treatment a month before the wedding.
By this point, Zach’s health had deteriorated along with his desire to continue fighting, so the couple decided they would marry within 48 hours.
Hospital staff and Maddie’s mother helped organize the ceremony as quickly as possible, including pinning her dress to “make her look better than she was,” and the couple celebrated surrounded by staff and patients.
“It was heartbreaking to see him feel so defeated, but I was so happy to see how much light the wedding brought back into his eyes,” Maddie said.
Maddie (pictured with her dad) said hospital staff helped her pin her dress to make it look like it fit better.
The couple had planned to get married on May 7, but had to plan the wedding just 48 hours in advance amid fears Zac only had days to live.
The couple’s hospital wedding was attended by staff, patients and family members and they cut the cake together.
The couple said the wedding was supposed to be the last thing they did together, but it showed Zach how much he wanted to live.
“I was so tired from fighting, I wanted to keep fighting for Maddie but I was so tired and I just didn’t want to keep going,” Zach said.
“I felt like that was it for me, I was in such a dark place that it felt like I would never get better. But having this entire day dedicated to just me and Maddie and our love for each other brought so much happiness back into my life and made me realize what I had.”
He added: “It made me extremely happy, when I saw her turn the corner, it gave me drive and reminded me why I fight. She looked so beautiful and after everything we had been through, seeing her so emotional made me realize what was wrong.
“We’ll definitely be renewing our vows at some point so we can have a chance to cut the cake and have the first dance.”
Immediately after the wedding, Zach decided he was ready to try a new course of chemotherapy, which he called the harshest treatment he had had to undergo.
He also underwent a bone marrow transplant to remove the remaining cancer in his body, and after another four months of treatment, he was declared in remission.
The couple rushed to prepare for the big day back in April 2022 and planned the wedding within 48 hours after the couple said they feared Zac only had days to live.
In the photo, Maddie’s father walks her down the aisle at the hospital where she and Zach got married.
Zach has undergone physical therapy over the past year and as a result has been able to take time off work and return to work as an insurance agent.
“I’m the healthiest I’ve been in years, so it feels like anything is possible,” he said.
Maddie said hearing the cancer had returned in 2021 was “breaking” but they didn’t let “cancer take this moment away from us.”
She said: “He wanted to give up and I couldn’t let that happen, so we moved the wedding to two days later.”
“We just thought: If this is the last thing we can do together, at least it’s something positive.” But here we are proving that if you keep fighting, the positivity can keep coming.”