LAVAL — It was a fairy tale moment for Matthew Schreindorfer and Katia Luciani; two high school sweethearts tying the knot after an eight-year romance.
“It was sunny, beautiful,” said Luciani.
“All our family and friends were there. It was the most perfect day.”
It was a day that would change their lives forever, but the bliss didn’t last.
“We got back from our honeymoon and I started having a fever three days later,” Schreindorfer explained.
READ MORE: After gruelling cancer treatment, a happy homecoming for Matthew Schreindorfer
Two months later, the couple came face to face with some devastating news.
Schreindorfer was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).
“It’s a shock. At 25 you don’t expect it. Especially, right on the honeymoon, I was playing volleyball and doing all kinds of things,” he said.
“Then you come back and you start having a fever and it’s just so sudden.”
Treatment failed in Quebec.
READ MORE: Some good news for Laval cancer patient Matthew Schreindorfer
“It was nothing that you ever want to go through,” said Luciani.
“You can’t imagine your husband, or your high school sweetheart, going through something like this.”
So, the couple turned to a clinical trial in New York City. The cost: $800,000.
“His doctor, once everything had failed here, she was like ‘well, that would be your next step. You need to do this if you want to have a chance,'” said Luciani.
The couple started a crowd-funding campaign, raising just enough to send Schreindorfer to the U.S. for the life-saving treatment.
“We were like, ‘we’ll figure it out,'” said Luciani.
“The important part was getting him there. Getting him treated and it worked, which is even more amazing than we could have ever expected and wanted.”
Throughout the whole ordeal, they kept their love – and their optimism – alive.
READ MORE: Matthew Schreindorfer completes first phase of cancer treatment in New York
“Everything Kat’s done for me and supported me… You appreciate the person for being there for you all the time,” Schreindorfer said.
“We get through things together and I try to support him through all of it, as hard as it was for him, and we just try to get through it and be positive,” Luciani added.
Schreindorfer is now in complete remission and back home in Montreal.
“When the doctor came in to tell us I mean, everyone was crying,” he recalled.
“Yeah, we were crying,” said Luciani.
“We hugged him. We had been waiting for that for so long.”
Schreindorfer is now focusing on staying cancer free. He will undergo a bone marrow transplant in the coming weeks.
“I want to get it over with,” he said.
“Light at the end of the tunnel.”
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
Follow @rachel_lau
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