Four months into her pregnancy, Birmingham mother-to-be Suzanne Willmet was devastated to learn she had a rare form of leukaemia.
The 28-year-old's fiance Peter Ford had planned to propose to her on a New Year's Eve trip to New York, but instead popped the question on the first day of her treatment at Heartlands Hospital.
She accepted and Mr Ford - also a teacher whom she met while working at St Francis of Assisi School, in Aldridge, Walsall - began making arrangements.
And Suzanne had the distinction of being the first patient to be married in the hospital's chapel, after receiving special permission from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Hospital chaplain the Rev Nick Ball conducted the wedding ceremony, but the couple had to 'honeymoon' on an isolation ward. "The whole day was wonderful. The staff were fantastic, arranging a room for our reception and many even came in on their day off to attend the ceremony," said the new Mrs Ford.
She had had routine blood tests at Good Hope Hospital, in Sutton Coldfield, where doctors thought she was anaemic. But further investigations revealed she had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
The odds of having AML during pregnancy is one in 100,000.
She was taken to Heartlands and, after discussing her options with doctors, decided to proceed with chemotherapy at a level that would be safe for her and her unborn child.
She has since received the happy news that she is in remission and is due give birth next month.
