Dave Lacey and Erica Werdel didn’t have a fairytale romance. The first time they met, they didn’t witness any fireworks.

They met at work and spent time getting to know each other before dating. Dave was taken with the attractive brunette, but it took them a year to start dating.

During that year, he discovered that, despite her little stature, she was an excellent basketball player.

Erica Werdel was a hilarious person. She managed to make nearly everyone chuckle.

Erica was compassionate and generous, and Dave discovered that having her around made him a better guy. Dave’s best friend became Erica.

Dave proposed after a long period of dating. Because Erica’s family is large, they couldn’t leave anyone off the guest list, which ballooned to at least 200 individuals.

She was a dynamo who pushed herself into her wedding plans, but they were both working and committed to their careers at the same time. The wedding planning grew chaotic and tiring.

Erica got increasingly weary and ill. She appeared to be suffering from a nagging cold that she couldn’t seem to shake.

Then, after a visit to the doctor, some additional research was conducted. They initially assumed she had Lupus, an autoimmune disease.

A CT scan was suggested by the doctor to establish the etiology of her ailment.

Just days before her wedding, a CT scan delivered some dreadful news! It wasn’t just a case of the sniffles. Lupus was not the cause.

Erica’s body has something even more dangerous buried within it, as shown by the CT scan. Multiple tumors were found within her body.

A softball-sized growth in her chest was one of them. Her heart was under strain as a result of it. Behind her diaphragm was a second tumor.

Erica Werdel was diagnosed with big B-cell non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s after the tests. The 28-year-old bride-to-be was suffering from a rare form of the condition.

This sort of cancer spreads swiftly, so the physicians had to act soon. She had her first round of chemotherapy only a few days after learning of her illness.