Part of this post has been copied from MirrorOnline. To read the full article please click here http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/smitten-teen-couple-who-met-7943997
Katie-Lily Bryant, 16, from Surrey, and Rian Harvey, 17, from Dorset, are enjoying life together, with a special ability to support each other 'in a way that other people are not able to'.
Katie-Lily, who lives near Farnham, was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma in May last year after finding a 3cm-by-3cm-sized lump on her neck.
Unbeknown to her, her future boyfriend had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia - an aggressive form of the disease that rarely affects youths - two years earlier.
"Before my diagnosis, I had been going to the doctor's for 10 months, complaining of headaches and constant pains through my body," Katie-Lily said.
"The doctors were not too concerned because it didn't seem like anything major. However, on May 10 last year, a lump came up above my collarbone out of nowhere.
"The next day, I was rushed through the system to have scans and biopsies. I was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer affecting 1,200 people every year in the UK.
"I was only 15 when I was diagnosed. Both my family and I were heartbroken knowing what was ahead of me and that it was life-threatening.
Katie-Lily underwent her first chemotherapy session at Southampton General Hospital on July 1 - coincidentally, the same day that Rian received a life-saving bone marrow transplant.
For the next three weeks, the then-15-year-old - who also had to undergo an operation to remove a huge tumour - was confined to her hospital bed.
She lost her ability to walk, speak or eat, and was forced to take epilepsy medication to prevent her legs from shaking uncontrollably.
She also set up an inspirational blog to reassure other cancer-stricken teens that they were not alone - something she continues to write to this day.
"As soon as I was diagnosed I knew having an unhealthy mind-set would not help me to achieve having a healthy body," Katie-Lily said.
"How could I possibly go through all this treatment if I didn’t have a positive outlook?
"I spent 2015 in a child’s cancer ward. Unfortunately not everyone made it to the end of the year. But me? Yes I had cancer, but I was still there able to fight my battles."
"To me that makes me very lucky."
She added: "I started my blog to help me get things of my chest and to let my friends and family know what was happening.
"But most importantly, If there is just one person that is going through similar things and my blog has helped that would make me so happy.
"Knowing that I can make a positive out of a rubbish situation!"
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Katie-Lily said she and Rian are hoping to turn both of their individual journeys into a book in the future, from 'both a teenage boy and teenage girl's point of view going through cancer'.
"We hope we will be able to not just help other people fighting this awful disease, but touch the hearts of people who have not been affected by cancer," she said.
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