A Fife couple are carrying out a last-minute wedding, thanks to the help of the community, after the groom was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Jaimie Easson and David Blyth got engaged in April 2021 and were looking forward to their dream wedding at the Falkland Estate in Fife next year.
But their world came crumbling down in July when David was diagnosed with lung cancer and was told he may have only months to live.
Now the couple from Dairsie are looking to tie the knot in less than two weeks time.
Jaimie and David have been together for around 15 years and have two daughters, aged five and 15.
‘I want to marry you right now’
Jaimie, who works as an events manager, said: “We were both getting on to try and make our dream wedding become a reality and then David got a terminal diagnosis in July.
“They told us basically that he had months to live without treatment and possibly up to a year with treatment.
“My first reaction was when we got told was ‘right, I want to marry you right now, what we going to do?’
“Within about three days of the initial diagnosis I had cancelled everything [for the wedding] and tried to ask if we could get our money back.
“Quite a few places have given us our full deposit back which is amazing but we’re just kind of working towards affording to live, afford to spend some time as a family, afford the wedding so I think that’s where the fundraising kind of came into it.”
Jaimie said David began having health complications around the end of last year.
The cancer cells had begun in his lungs and later moved into his immune system, clogging up his lymphatic system.
“In the beginning David had a couple of maintenance operations to relieve some of the pressure a little bit, the first one went quite wrong and he almost died a couple of times on the recovery,” Jaimie said.
“He got rushed into Edinburgh Western General which is the cancer hospital and then he started his radiotherapy earlier than what was expected.”
Donations brought bride ‘to tears’
Despite getting some money back, the couple had lost thousands of pounds in wedding deposits and are both currently without work.
So Jaimie’s sister set up a fundraiser to help support Jaimie and her family, which has since had more than £1,000 in donations.
“It’s overwhelming, I’ve been brought to tears so many times, just the sheer generosity, just the sheer wow,” Jaimie said.
“I can’t even put it into words how emotional and grateful I am and how much of a weight some of the donations have taken off our shoulders and just how kind people’s words have been.”
Thanks to generous donations from local businesses and the community the couple will get married next Saturday in Ceres, where they both grew up
Jaimie said: “I just can’t believe it.
“I’m struggling to function mentally with the whole thing and when you’re trying to do the simplest of tasks sometimes it’s too difficult so to have people offering their help the way they are, it just allows me to keep my head above water for longer.
“However silly it sounds I think that’s why my sister started the fundraiser because my head’s with David and trying to manage the children and our eldest has autism as well.
“She’s quite high functioning and she’s a lovely girl but one of the things she struggles with is her emotional responses and her social responses so she’s really struggling to process what’s going on with her dad and she’s just about to start taking her exams.”
‘I just want to be his wife’
Jaimie said that for now she is trying to take it “one day at a time”.
She said: “We have a review appointment the week before the wedding with his oncologist where she’ll be kind of be discussing with us the next stages.
“We’re unsure exactly what’s next but we’re trying to just not look too far ahead.
“It would mean more than the world to me and David to get married, it’s been a long time coming and I can’t imagine my life without him.
“Just to be able to stand there with our two beautiful children and our family and friends and to be able to stand there and finally get married – and I can’t wait to be a Blyth.
“I just want to be his wife, I can’t even put it into words.”
Conversation