My wife and I planned our hospital wedding within 48 hours, thinking I had days to live – but it gave me the strength to keep fighting and a year later I am in remission from cancer
A dying groom married his wife in hospital because he feared he had only days to live, but more than a year later he is in remission after the marriage gave him the strength to keep fighting.
Zach Stroup, 27, married the love of his life Maddie, 25, in April 2022 at the Colorado Blood Cancer Institute – where he was treated for the disease.
The Colorado couple rushed to prepare for the big day after Zach’s condition worsened and they feared he had only days to live.
However, Zach said the special day completely changed his perspective and gave him a reason to keep fighting the devastating disease — at a time when he felt ready to give up.
He said: ‘It was the scariest thing I think I’ve ever experienced – everything was so dark for so long, but the wedding was a complete turning point for me.
Zach and Maddie Stroup pictured at their 2022 hospital wedding after Zach’s health deteriorated
Zach’s cancer traveled to his spinal cord and left him nearly paralyzed, so the couple rushed to get married
“I don’t think I would have made it if it wasn’t for that day.”
The couple met when they were in high school and had been living a “perfect life” before Zach was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
Zach explained how he started complaining of feeling tired and having constant night sweats, but was given medication and expected to return to normal.
But in November 2020 his symptoms worsened and after a visit to hospital 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 took a trip to Florida and Zach proposed.
As life returned to normal, they planned the wedding for May 7, 2022, but Zach fell ill again in September 2021.
He began to lose mobility in his legs and became nearly paralyzed, so he was rushed to the hospital, where he was told he had a tumor in his spinal cord.
Zach underwent more chemotherapy and was still receiving treatment a month before the wedding was to take place.
At that point, Zach’s health had deteriorated, along with his will to keep fighting, so the couple decided they would get married within 48 hours.
Hospital staff and Maddie’s mother stepped in to organize the ceremony as quickly as possible, including pinning down her dress to “make it look better than it was,” and the couple celebrated surrounded by staff and patients.
“It was heartbreaking to see him feeling 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 father) said hospital staff helped her fasten her dress with a safety pin to make it look like it fit better
The couple planned to get married on May 7, but had to schedule the wedding within 48 hours out of fear that Zach only had days to live.
The couple’s hospital wedding was attended by staff, patients and family and they cut the cake together
The couple said the wedding was the last thing they did together, but it showed Zach how much he wanted to live.
“I was really exhausted from fighting, I wanted to keep going for Maddie, but I was so tired and just didn’t want to keep going,” Zach said.
“I felt like this was it for me, I was just in such a dark place that I felt like I was never going to get better. But because that whole day was about nothing but me and Maddie and our love for each other, so much happiness came back into my life and I realized what I had.”
He added: “It just made me really happy, when I saw her turn the corner it just gave me that drive and reminded me why I was fighting. She looked so beautiful and after everything we had been through, seeing her so emotional made me realize what this was all about.
“We will definitely renew our vows at some point so we get a chance to cut the cake and have a first dance.”
Immediately after the wedding, Zach decided he was willing to try another trial of chemotherapy, which he described as the toughest treatment he had to undergo.
He also underwent a bone marrow transplant to remove the remaining cancer in his body and was declared in remission after another four months of treatment.
The couple rushed to prepare for the big day in April 2022, planning the wedding within 48 hours after the couple said they feared Zach had only days to live.
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 is therefore able to take a vacation 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 it was “beatable” to hear the cancer had returned in 2021, but they refused to “let the cancer take that 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 after.
‘We just thought: if this is the last thing we’re going to do together, then at least it’s something positive. But here we prove that if you keep fighting, the positivity can keep coming.”