Heartbroken groom recited wedding vows at fiancée’s funeral when she died of skin cancer at 25 – a fortnight before their wedding

A heartbroken groom who bravely recited the vows intended for his wedding day at his fiancée’s funeral told how the woman he loved slipped away just a fortnight before he could make her his wife.

Ryan Dixon, 25, then returned to the Cornish headland where he had proposed on May 30, 2020 – the day before she first felt the agonising chest pains caused by the skin cancer that killed her – to scatter her ashes in their “favourite place.”

Diagnosed with stage four melanoma – advanced skin cancer – in July 2020, Kate Wignall, of St Austell, Cornwall, an occupational therapist until her illness took hold, was just 25 when she passed away on April 14, 2021.

Bravely reading aloud the vows they wrote together, as the 30 loved ones permitted by Covid restrictions at her funeral on May 4, 2021, gathered to say goodbye, Ryan recited: “Although these are the vows we did not get to speak, they will be ours forever, to cherish and keep.”

Lab technician Ryan, who became Kate’s teenage sweetheart after they met when he moved to St Austell from nearby Lost Withiel, Cornwall, when he was 15, has now vowed to honour her by continuing to tick off a bucket list of experiences she hoped to have before her death.

Despite his grief, he has just helped to raise more than £5,000 for Cancer Research by hiking up the three highest peaks in the UK in her memory.

He said: “If I can take Kate’s legacy with me everywhere I go, that’s what I’m going to do.

“She was the most beautiful soul in the world inside and out, so I hope I can do her just a little bit of justice, but it will never compare to how she really was.

“The way I see it is she’s always with me, so it’s never truly goodbye.”

The first sign that anything was wrong with Kate came on May 31, 2020, when she experienced sudden, agonising chest pains.

After seeing the doctor and being sent for tests, just six weeks after Ryan proposed she was diagnosed with the aggressive disease.

Further investigations resulted in an official diagnosis of stage four advanced melanoma, which had spread to her brain, spine, spleen, kidney and lungs.

Speaking last year, to warn other young people of the dangers of skin cancer, she said: “It was heartbreaking telling Ryan. We’d been on such a high and now our lives were suddenly and sharply going in a different direction.”

At first, she responded well to treatment but, sadly, not long after spending an “amazing” Christmas with Ryan and her family at their home, with Christmas dinner at her parents’ house, Kate’s condition took a sharp decline.

Ryan said: “Her scan in January had shown a significant decrease in her cancer, meaning her chemotherapy treatment was working as well as it was expected to.”

He added: “But then things happened very quickly.”

A bit later that month, Kate found a lump above her left breast and was referred immediately for tests.

Told it was melanoma, meaning her cancer had spread further, doctors quickly started her on a new course of immunotherapy.

But she started having bad headaches, being sick and experiencing high temperatures, and on March 7, 2021, she was hospitalised.

“Just two days into being in the hospital, Kate’s oncologist phoned to say there was a serious bleed on her brain caused by a tumour,” Ryan said.

“They told us she might only have a couple of days to live.”

The next day, after four days in the hospital, she came home to her parents’ house in St Austell, where she could live downstairs, with nurses visiting her.

Ryan said: “I became her full-time carer.

“Then, three days after being at home, she woke up and started making progress. Doctors started to think maybe the treatment had just begun to work, but it was too early to tell.”

Deeply in love, Ryan and Kate accelerated their plans to get married – moving their wedding forwards from May 2022, when they had intended to tie the knot in Rhodes, Greece, to the first week of May 2021 at Knightor Winery, in St Austell.

“When she came round at home we could talk again and we started the process of trying to get married,” Ryan explained.

“We went to the register office and we had the rings and the venue all ready.”

Focused on making memories, the couple also managed to go on a day trip to Lerryn, a nearby coastal village, and spend time together.

Another cruel blow came shortly after, when Kate began a rapid and terminal decline – finally slipping away on April 14, just two weeks before their longed-for wedding day.

Ryan said: “We didn’t quite make it.”

He continued: “Only three and a half weeks after being at home she passed away with me, her mum, her dad and her sister by her side at home.

“Kate’s last memories were planning our wedding which is a slight comfort as she was so excited about it.

“She was very strong-willed, and she didn’t want to get married at home. She wanted the venue and the dress and, typical Kate, she wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Ryan added: “But neither would I. ”

Kate’s funeral was held at Glynn Valley Crematorium on May 4, 2021, and, in line with her wishes, everything was “bright and colourful.”

Her mother and sister had written poems and messages, which were read aloud.

“It just summed her up,” Ryan said. “She was so full of life and always smiling.”

And while Covid rules limited attendance to 30 people, the service was also streamed online.

No one will forget the poignant moment when Ryan said their wedding vows.

He recalled: “I said the vows we were going to make to each other at our wedding.

“I said, ‘Although these are the vows we did not get to speak, they will be ours forever, to cherish and keep.

“I feel so privileged to have felt true love. To have loved you and been loved by you, to have lived our lives so fully, together.”

He continued: “You have already given me the world, Kate. I will always love you and my heart will always belong to you.’”

And on May 30, Ryan returned with Kate’s parents and siblings and their partners to the Cornish headland where he had proposed to scatter Kate’s ashes, as she had wished.

He said: “It always will be such a special place to me.”

He continued: “We did it on May 30. So, exactly one year after our engagement, I scattered her ashes at the same place.

“It felt like I was fulfilling a purpose, but at the same time, I felt completely broken.

“It was an absolutely beautiful day. We had the place to ourselves and it was just very peaceful.”

Ryan added: “It felt like it was the end of her physical presence and then the start of whatever comes next.”

In the final months of her life, Kate had compiled a ‘live list’ of things she wanted to do – some of which Ryan now hopes to complete in her honour.

He explained: “With lockdown, we hadn’t been able to do much. Kate wanted to go back to the cinema, go camping again and hike up Snowdon.”

He continued: “One wish was to get a dog, which we did manage to do. We got Coby, our gorgeous little golden-red Labrador puppy for Kate’s 25th birthday on January 19, 2021.

“He’s now eight months old and a cheeky chappy, full of personality. He was one of the biggest ticks.”

Another major achievement has been Ryan’s fundraiser for Cancer Research, which saw him and three friends, including Kate’s cousin Patrick, complete the Three Peaks Challenge – climbing the three highest mountains in the UK – between July 24 and 25, raising a total of £5,300 for the charity.

“I knew Kate wanted to hike up Snowdon, so it came from that,” he said.

“I am sure she was with us, bringing us sunshine, for the whole weekend.”

The group climbed Ben Nevis, in Scotland, starting at 4am on July 24, before driving to Scafell Pike, in the Lake District.

Scaling the second peak in two hours, they spent the night in a BnB near Scafell Pike before driving to Wales the next morning.

Summiting Snowdon in another two hours on Sunday, July 25, left them elated.

Ryan said: “We did Ben Nevis first, as it’s the most difficult, the longest and highest.”

He continued: “That took us five hours, 54 minutes total, while Scafell Pike took four hours 40 minutes total, and we managed to climb Snowdon in five hours 20 minutes – including a leisurely walk down and a stop for a swim.

“It was amazing to raise so much for Cancer Research and, together with Kate’s seven-mile charity walk in Cornwall last summer and the fundraiser at her funeral, we’ve raised £13,000 in a year.”

Looking to the future, Ryan said he knows Kate would want him to enjoy life.

He said: “She told me she wanted me to really live my life, to bring Coby up and to live for her as well.

“She even told me she wanted me to find someone to love again, someday. Hopefully, that will happen when the time is right, but what I’m trying to do now is make the most of every day.

“I know far too well that life is so short and none of us is guaranteed a tomorrow.”

Ryan added: “Kate and I knew that. We explored so much of the world together, we lived each day as fully as possible with each other for the last 10 years.

“And I will carry her in my heart and take her positive views with me throughout my life.”

Ryan is supporting Cancer Research UK’s vital work. To play your part and help support the research that will beat cancer, visit cruk.org

To donate, visit https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/3-peaks-challenge-in-memory-of-kate