A dad surprised his wife with a lavish Disney wedding in hospital, before she died of a rare cancer this year.
Tragically, Kirsty Fielding, 28, died with sarcoma cancer in October 2022. A sarcoma is a type of cancer that starts in tissues like bone or muscle and is very rare - with three to four people being diagnosed each year.
She is survived by her husband Alex Fielding and their son, Thomas, who have described the mum as a 'fighter until the end', report MyLondon.
Prior to her passing last month, Alex said he first set up a GoFundMe to raise the funds they needed to help cover a magical wedding in Disneyland Paris, after getting engaged in 2019; being together for 10 years.
However, despite not being able to take Kirsty due to her illness, he bought the place where dreams come true to her hospital room in Sutton, saying he tried to make the day as "special and magical" as he could.
The pair, from Catford, South East London, knew they wanted to get married when Kirsty first received her sarcoma cancer diagnosis on September 8, earlier this year.
Speaking about his plans, Alex said: "The first thing I said to her after the diagnosis was that we need to get married, we didn't know how long she had or what was what. Two days later, I set up the GoFundMe because we didn't just want to get married in a registry office... I wanted her to have a special day."
He continued: "It was really scary, it happened so fast, we were on the beach with family in September and you'd never have known that something was wrong, and that in just over a month's time she'd pass away."
He added that thanks to the kindness of others, the money raised on the fundraising page was also enough to help cover Kirsty's funeral costs.
Back in 2021, Kirsty found a lump 'the size of a golf ball' under her arm but when she visited the GP, she was told that it was 'nothing to worry about.'
A few months later, it had doubled to 'the size of a tennis ball'. Then, after four months, Kirsty was in a lot of pain as the lump had grown to the 'size of a rugby ball'.
The cancer was caught in time and she underwent an operation to remove the tumour, which also meant she had lost most of the muscle in her upper arm.
Just eight months after undergoing radiotherapy and having time to recover, Kirsty was back in work and Alex said that she had always been so 'full of life', and she didn't let anything put her down, adding: "She'd lost muscle and movement in the arm but she didn't let it stop her and she cracked on with life."
Heartbreakingly, the cancer returned after laying dormant in her bloodstream. By the time doctors were able to catch the cancer, it was too late.
A CT scan found that a tumour at the top of her lung had doubled in size to 18cm in just two weeks.
To the shock of family and friends, Kirsty was told that she would have only 12 to 18 months left to live, with the diagnosis coming just three days before Thomas' second birthday.
Alex said: "She fought all the way through and she was really strong, she wasn't on an IV line, she was on oral morphine, and towards the end she was so weak and couldn't talk but she would always want to cuddle and she had tears in her eyes - that's when I knew it was the end.
"She found the strength before she passed that she loved me and that she wanted me to go out and find love, which was heartbreaking to hear as I never expected to hear it."
He continued: "Disneyland is the place that made us want to travel and explore more and it holds a really special place for us, it's just so sad that we never got to get Thomas there with us because it all happened so quick."
Kirsty died on Saturday October 22 and never got to take Thomas to Disneyland, which she had always wanted to.
However, before she died, Alex managed to surprise her with the wedding of her dreams.
Alex said: "When the doctors told her that she only had a few weeks left, a family member came in and said they were going to plan our wedding so we could get married. Within 10 days we had organised a wedding at the hospital."
Alex added: "It was a bit like Don't Tell the Bride and I brought Disneyland Paris, which is such a special to place, to her. The room in Royal Marsden Hospital that we used is the one that Prince William uses when he visits.
"I knew that this may be the last thing I can give to her and I knew I wanted to make it as special and magical as I could. When she came through the door she looked so happy and you could tell that she really loved what we'd been able to create for her. Even though she was ill at the time, when you look at her in the wedding dress you couldn't tell at all.
"We kitted out the room with Disney ornaments and a whole theme, the backdrop to where we got married was a Princess' castle. I know that I did everything I could within my power to make it as special as I could."
Alex went on to say that whenever he recalls the moments before his wife's passing, he looks back at them with fondness.
He said: "I can look back on those photos now and remember how happy we were and I'll be able to show Thomas those pictures when he's older and he'll be able to see that his mum was one in a million."
Thomas, who turned two in September, is too young to fully understand what has happened to his mum, said Alex.
The dad revealed that the youngster walks around the house saying "mummy gone" as the whole family has rallied together to mourn the loss of 28-year-old Kirsty who "had a heart of gold".
Alex is now working alongside St Christopher's Hospice and Royal Marsden Hospital to help raise awareness for sarcoma cancer and the urgent need for funding.
He will be organising his own marathon which will see him run between two UK theme parks in memory of Kirsty and their love for theme parks.
Alex said: "My aim at the moment is to help raise awareness for her cancer, because the sarcoma team at the hospital have asked me to be an advocate and to fight in Kirsty's name to raise funds that her cancer needs for treatment.
"There will be another family out there in our position who needs treatment and there will be nothing available for them. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what we have after losing Kirsty.
"Kirsty has given me the strength to carry on and keep fighting for her."
