My last wish / Mit sidste ønske

*** UPDATE ***

Thank you so much for all of tour donations! We are so so so thankful, we cannot describe it. Thank you for making our dream come true. We got married this Saturday, as planned, but differently than planned, due to the Corona virus. Our country is on lockdown and we are not allowed to gather more than 10 people together. We cancelled the wedding and did it virtually. We got married in iur living room, with the priest, our witnesses and moms present (2 meters away at all times) and the rest of the day was spent virtually (through Zoom), with our 93 guests. We did everything as planned and it was amazing. The best day of our lives and the money did not go to waste, which was our main priority. Not even the Corona virus can stop us! Had we cancelled the wedding, it had all been lost and we would have been devastated. The thought was unbearable. We are so happy and filled with love. Thank you for making this possible. We love you and are forever thankful for being able to do this and to finally be husband and wife. My last wish. My life is complete now.

To update on my physical state, 2 weeks before the wedding and once more 1 week before, I had surgery again because the cancer grew into my spine, again... This time I was notas lucky as the other times and I have now lost most of the feeling in my legs. I can no longer walk without help or stand without holding on to something. It's going downhill fast now and I need help 24/7 now. It's minimal what I can do on my own. But we were determined not to let it take overour wedding. We did it anyway and it was perfect. Love conquers all! 

If you want to see more pictures from our big day, I have been sharing (and will do for a while) pictures and videos on my instagram account: anne.smidt

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In late 2018 at 27 years old, after almost a year of severe backpain, several diagnosis attempts and only 6 months after meeting the love of my life, I was diagnosed with a very rare kind of sarcoma cancer, called malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor. The survival rate at stage 4 is less than 8%.

My odds were good at the beginning, but it quickly turned really bad. I am now stage 4, which is technically not curable, however, my doctors have been fighting for me for a long time now and trying different kind of treatments, but unfortunately the cancer kept spreading and just before Christmas 2019 they announced, that they have run out of options and I am per definition now incurable.

My tumor was 16 cm long at diagnosis, so it took 10 hours in the surgery room to remove it and reinforce my spine with steel and screws. Since then, I have been back in the surgery room a few times, finished 32 days of radiation and 6 rounds of chemotherapy with more to come. During this time, my cancer has spread and I now have several mets in my left lung and new small tumors growing on my spine. I am currently struggling with a lot of side effects from my treatments, such as serious fatique, muscle weakness and a lot pain that I am still trying to manage with help from a palliative care team. I am at a high risk of getting paralyzed in my legs, if my cancer grows into my bone marrow. I have already had one surgery to remove cancer from my bone marrow, but it will come back and keep coming back and at some point, I will loose my ability to walk.

During all this and still, my boyfriend has not even once left my side. He has been sleeping at the hospital with me, driving me everywhere, held my hand during treatment and cried with me. He is always there to help me, no matter how and no matter when. In August 2019 we were on a much needed long weekend away from chemo and he proposed to me. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, no matter how long or how short. I love him forever and my only wish is to walk down the aisle this year and marry him. I want the wedding to be a celebration of our love, our life and because it might be our last and only celebration of marriage, I want all of our family and friends to be there.

Our wedding was originally planned to be on August 1st, but due to recent complications and development of the cancer, I was advised by my doctors, to push the wedding forward. So our new wedding date will be on my 29th birthday, March 21st 2020.

Financially we are struggling to make that happen, which is why I am asking for help through fundraising. It would mean everything to me and for my fiancé, to be able to get married surrounded by our family and closest friends, while I am still able to walk and dance.

We don't have any extravagant wishes for our wedding, our main priority is to gather all our loved ones.

Thank you so much for reading my story and if you are not able to donate, I hope you will help me spread the word and make my wedding dream come true.

Love, Anne and Franz