Their New Year’s Day came with devastating news. A young Calgary couple found themselves suddenly navigating a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Micah Repato, 25, was told by her doctors she had Stage 4 colon cancer. Repato didn’t want to waste a single moment, and savour the time she had left.
“When the doctor told me I only have two, three weeks to live it hit me,” Repato said. “If I’m gonna leave this world I am going to leave with a bang.”
Her family and friends flew in from all over to help Micah celebrate life’s milestones long before the calendar dictated.
“To be honest I pray every day and spend as much time as I can with people that I love.”
Repato got engaged just days ago when her long-time boyfriend Peter Studnicki proposed. They are getting married this Thursday.
“I know I’ve picked the right woman and we’ve been planning this before any of this happened,” Studnicki said. “So as much as it seems rushed for some people it’s not rushed for us.”
And they’ve both learned to live in the moment, day by day.
“If there’s something you want do and you’re waiting for the right moment, don’t,” Studnicki said. “The right moment is now. It’s always now.”
Lesley Plumley is the founder of Wishing Well Wedding & Event Foundation, a Calgary charity that makes wishes come true for the terminally ill. Every detail of the ceremony is planned and paid for by the not-for-profit.
“I want them to be happy, to have these memories. I want Peter to see his wife and not think of her as a cancer patient or see her as someone who is terminal,” Plumley said.
The couple is getting married Thursday morning and they will have an intimate reception at the family home for their 30 guests.