Groom-to-be gets cancer and COVID-19 diagnosis on same day

GROOM-to-be Zach Stockford, 25, suffered a double blow after finding out that he had both an incurable cancer and COVID-19. The grim news came just within the span of an hour, with the coronavirus test result coming in first. He then found out about the cancer following the results of a CT scan.

Stockford first received an email from the NHS confirming that he had tested positive for COVID-19. An hour later, doctors informed him that the pains that he had been feeling since September were a result of an aggressive form of cancer.

The native of Llanelli, Wales, found out about the cancer after a scan revealed a "shadow" on his liver. Unfortunately, it wasn't just IBS or gallstones as he had initially thought. A biopsy confirmed that he had bowel cancer, which had already metastasised to his liver.

The double whammy came as a big blow for Stockford and his fiancée Katie, whom he had been planning to wed after getting engaged at the start of the pandemic back in March last year.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 diagnosis also meant that Stockford and his family are unable to meet to console each other. "We just broke down and cried to each other. There was nothing else we could do at that point," he said, according to The Sun.

"He can't even give his mother a hug because we're all self-isolating. His sister is also pregnant and so he can't see her at this really important time in her life. It has been so difficult. With all this stress around us it would have been nice to have our family around us, but we can't," shared his fiancée.

Unfortunately, Stockford's COVID-19 diagnosis means that his cancer treatment will have to be delayed. He is unable to get further evaluation and treatment until he tests negative.

To make matters worse, Stockford is currently unable to work and his partner lost her job in November due to the pandemic.

"To find out you've got cancer is one thing, but to then find out you have Covid, have your house falling down around you and then lose your job all at the same time is something else," said Katie.

The couple is now hoping to get married as soon as possible, so that they can make the most of the time they have left together.