Cancer has cost Jenna Kersey the chance to marry the love of her life in a dream wedding.
But brave 24-year-old Jenna, from Stirling, has pulled on her running shoes in memory of her beloved fiance Joel Gray to raise money for charitable causes and help others fighting their own cancer battle.
The pair gained massive public support earlier this year when they were forced to bring forward their wedding after Joel was told he had terminal cancer.
The loved-up couple were initially due to tie the knot in 2023, but after being given the news that an aggressive form of cancer, which Joel had lived since his teenage years had returned, they rushed to bring things forward to have their ceremony in Joel’s home town of Carlisle on July 2.
Friends, family and the communities on both sides of the border rallied with offers of help to make the nuptials, with thousands of pounds being raised in various fundraisers.
However, the fairytale story was to have a tragic ending when a deterioration in Joel’s condition meant they were unable to go through with the wedding and eventually Joel lost his battle with leukaemia on July 24.
Jenna is now determined to support causes close to Joel’s heart and she took part in the Race for Life around Stirling on Sunday as the first step of that effort - before vowing to cover 50 miles next month in support of the Maggie’s centre near Forth Valley Royal.
Jenna told the Observer: “I felt as if I had to give back and I told Joel I was going to do the Race for Life and he told me to go for it.
“It’s totally out of my comfort zone and I know that Joel would’ve been very proud of me and I felt as if I had him on my shoulders for the whole time.
“I did the Race for Life with my personal trainer Dawn and she really helped me along the way, but I had Joel on my mind for the way around, thinking I was doing it for him and for me.
“It’s just helped me get out and about because I’ve not wanted to go out very much in the last few weeks but I did feel as if a weight had been lifted off me; Dawn has just been the most incredible woman and has been such a great support system that I could never have done this without.”
Joel’s journey with cancer began in 2012 when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia T cell as a teenager before he was given the all-clear in 2015.
However, it returned in 2018, this time with a second type also being detected but once again Joel fought through rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in September of that year, with the treatment deemed a success.
After that boost, the pair first spoke online in August 2019 and would soon meet up in November that year.
It was shortly after that Joel decided to move up to Stirling to live with Jenna full time and he soon proposed with the aim of getting hitched in 2023.
But they received a devastating blow when doctors at Forth Valley Royal in May told them Joel’s cancer had returned for a third time - and this time it was incurable.
It prompted the race against time to tie the knot, but as the preparations reached fever pitch, Joel’s condition took a tragic turn for the worse.
Jenna said: “He was just so excited to get married and he had his kilt sorted, so everything was in place.
“He ended up getting Covid and that didn’t help and then there were other infections and it just went downhill and he was just too ill and too weak to go through with anything.
“He had become quite agitated and struggled to string a sentence together, the cancer had spread to his brain and he just wasn’t himself.
“I just think he had lost the motivation for a wedding because he knew he was going.
“I feel as if I owe it to Joel to do this just to help with awareness and to demonstrate how quickly someone’s life can be taken away so unexpectedly by cancer.”
If you wish to donate, you can reach Jenna’s Maggie’s fundraiser at facebook.com/donate/2999778130300143/
