Countryfile star Adam Henson was left broken after wife Charlie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but the devastating news prompted her to perform a relationship u-turn and take things to the next level.
Charlie has spoken out on how receiving her brutal cancer diagnosis led her to realise that a wedding was "the most important thing in the world" to her. After falling ill over Christmas 2020, the couple initially believed she'd caught something from handling one of their farm animals.
But by February 2021, the mum-of-two was still showing worrying symptoms, and further tests found a four-and-a-half centimetre tumour on her pancreas, located in a 'tricky position'. The ordeal prompted the couple to come to a bittersweet decision - and they soon decided it was time to tie the knot.
It seems that brave Charlie had never been interested in a fairytale ceremony, preferring to focus on their children, Alfie and Ella, as a symbol of their commitment to each other. However, the "huge shock" of discovering there was a 4.5cm tumour lurking in her body prompted her "ridiculous" relationship U-turn.
She prepared for her potential death and even penned letters to her husband and their children (Jonathan Buckmaster)"It’s ridiculous but I really, really wanted everyone to know how much I love Adam; most importantly, I wanted him to know. It was suddenly such a big thing," she told The Telegraph. "We had been together for many years and had never felt we needed to marry: for me, having children with Adam was our commitment to each other. "A wedding had never been important. Now, suddenly, it was the most important thing in the world," she exclaimed.
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Her heartbreaking health crisis began in 2020 when unexplained stomach pains caused her agony over the Christmas period. At first, she assumed she was merely battling a bug, but when her symptoms were still going strong two months later, she consulted a doctor.
Even then, checks showed no sign of abnormalities and she was told it was "highly unlikely" she had cancer. Subsequent tests confirmed that, in fact, she did have the big C - and the discovery plunged poor Charlie into "absolute hell". Speaking out on the stressful moment his world caved in, Adam admitted he was "totally lost" and daunted by "shock".
He admitted that being a farmer had given him a down-to-earth and pragmatic persona, but that this was totally out of his comfort zone. Just months after her diagnosis, the pair tearfully tied the knot, with both crying through the reading of the vows. Charlie was shell-shocked to learn that pancreatic cancer typically leaves sufferers with just a five per cent chance of survival.
However, against the odds, she is currently in recovery from the condition which previously took the lives of Joan Crawford, Patrick Swayze and Luciano Pavarotti. She has already returned to work as a location manager for television shows, while she is hoping to travel more with her husband.
Charlie elaborated to the Mirror on her marriage decision: "After 28 years together you do get a bit complacent, but getting married was suddenly really important. We didn’t know how long we had left, and I wanted Adam to know I was committed to him." Charlie and Adam had both known people who'd passed away from pancreatic cancer, and at the time, Charlie believed wholeheartedly that she would die.
Facing critical life-or-death surgery, Charlie's terrible ordeal made her realise she wanted to marry Adam, now 58, who she'd been with on and off since their late teens. On the day of their hastily arranged wedding, in September of that same year, Adam found himself weeping uncontrollably as they exchanged vows. As Charlie said 'I do' at Stroud Registry Office, surrounded by their closest family and friends, the new bride was mere hours away from undergoing a complex operation doctors hoped would give her a shot at one day meeting her grandchildren.
Adam recalled: "We cried a lot. Those vows cemented my emotions and let me say from the heart how I feel about Charlie. The registrar wasn't aware of our situation and said she'd never had such an emotional couple. For us, it was a way of saying goodbye to everyone."
He continued: "There were a lot of tears and a lot of emotion in the room. Charlie wore an ivory dress and looked stunning when she walked in with her mum. We were both crying through the vows, and the next very emotional time for me was giving a speech at the reception."
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