"When God gives you a gift, you don't give it back."

Chuck and I have each been married once before and experienced the ending of our long term marriages over the past three years. Although, as it turns out, we've been in close proximity many times over the years, we actually met on match.com. I received Chuck's profile in an email from Match and I decided to email him right away saying "the merry matchmakers at match.com must think we'd hit it off because they sent me your proifile." I suggested that he check out my profile and asked him to drop me a line if he agreed. Turns out, he had signed up for Match less than 24 hours earlier (talk about getting a return on your investment!).

We had many things in common from the start (a love of God, football and Disneyland to name a few). We talked, we met, we began dating and were beginning to fall in love when I landed in the hospital and was diagnosed with cancer - stage IV lymphoma. The night we found out the diagnosis, I told Chuck he should run. "No one will ever blame you," I said, "because this isn't going to be fun and you shouldn't be stuck with a cancer patient." But you know what Chuck said? He said, "Dianne, when God gives you a gift, you don't give it back."

That was last July and Chuck has taken care of me all through this difficult illness. He's been my rock through chemo, nausea, pain and fear, all with a strong faith in God and in me. He thinks I'm beautiful, even with no hair. He has loved me in a way I never dared hope and I know that God has blessed me with this wonderful man.

After six months of chemo and treatments I am now in full remission and we are so thankful! Our wedding will be a wonderful celebration of faith, life and love, and we will share it with our families and closest friends who have loved us and seen us through these past difficult months.

The thing we are most excited about is that we are combining our wedding on Friday evening with the Light the Night walk on Saturday evening to raise funds for research for blood cancers including lymphoma. Our 60 wedding guests are invited to "walk with us" after we walk down the aisle. Since every five minutes someone in the US is diagnosed with a blood cancer and every ten minutes someone loses their fight, we are glad to bring even deeper meaning to our wedding by making it about more than just the two of us and our lives.