Anything you imagine can end up bringing two people together, no matter how strange or morbid. For Lauren and Darren Easton, it took meeting each other at the hospital after being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in 2015, to kickstart the chain of events that would lead to them falling in love and getting married. The only trouble is that both Darren and Lauren suffered from the same illness, and 24-year-old Darren now only has a few weeks left to live. Despite the fact that the terminal illness has robbed them of a long future, Darren is still determined to spend his last days on earth married to the woman he fell in love with.

The couple, who hail from England, managed to raise £3,000 in just 14 days through crowdfunding to pay for their wedding ceremony. The emotional wedding took place at Harefield Hospital in Hillingdon, London, since Darren was too sick to be wed elsewhere. He and Lauren exchanged vows while he was on a morphine drip, confined to a wheelchair due to mobility issues. Doctors had attempted a lung transplant, but Darren's body has rejected it.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Press Association]]

Commenting on how they met in a recent interview, Lauren stated:

"I was walking along back to my ward, with a cup of tea in one hand and my phone in the other talking to my mum, and I saw these three six-foot blokes with their hoods up, coming towards me. I’m quite dinky so it was a little bit intimidating and as we got nearer to each other it didn’t look like they were going to let me through. Then, suddenly, one of them put his hand out and pulled his mate to the side, saying, ‘Let the lady through!'"

She added:

"We really weren’t supposed to mix and they used to tell us off for it. One day, we sneaked off to the pub around the corner and a doctor saw us. After that, they tried to have us moved further apart, but we protested singing ‘We shall not, we shall not be moved!’ until they let us stay. We really were inseparable."

Meanwhile, Darren stated:

"We were both having a really nice time so I said to her, ‘What would you do if I gave you a kiss,’ expecting she’d say something like, ‘I’d give you a slap’. But she didn’t, she just said, ‘I probably wouldn’t do anything’. And that was it. from that moment on – we were boyfriend and girlfriend ... I knew that I was ill and that I might not make it."

"But with CF you can be the healthiest person in the world and then one day get an infection that kills you the next day. So I thought, “What’s the point in not asking Lauren to be mine? She’s made me happier than anyone else in the world and we’re both going to die anyway – so we might as well be together and be happy."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Press Association]]

Darren and Lauren's story is a tragic one, and it's sad that circumstances have conspired to give them such a fleeting relationship. Despite that, they've still been determined to make the best of a terrible situation, and with his wife by his side, Darren knows that he will not be passing away alone.

If you'd like to contribute some money towards curing this genetic condition, then please visit the official homepage of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to make a donation or learn more.

Anything you imagine can end up bringing two people together, no matter how strange or morbid. For Lauren and Darren Easton, it took meeting each other at the hospital after being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in 2015, to kickstart the chain of events that would lead to them falling in love and getting married. The only trouble is that both Darren and Lauren suffered from the same illness, and 24-year-old Darren now only has a few weeks left to live. Despite the fact that the terminal illness has robbed them of a long future, Darren is still determined to spend his last days on earth married to the woman he fell in love with.

The couple, who hail from England, managed to raise £3,000 in just 14 days through crowdfunding to pay for their wedding ceremony. The emotional wedding took place at Harefield Hospital in Hillingdon, London, since Darren was too sick to be wed elsewhere. He and Lauren exchanged vows while he was on a morphine drip, confined to a wheelchair due to mobility issues. Doctors had attempted a lung transplant, but Darren's body has rejected it.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Press Association]]

Commenting on how they met in a recent interview, Lauren stated:

"I was walking along back to my ward, with a cup of tea in one hand and my phone in the other talking to my mum, and I saw these three six-foot blokes with their hoods up, coming towards me. I’m quite dinky so it was a little bit intimidating and as we got nearer to each other it didn’t look like they were going to let me through. Then, suddenly, one of them put his hand out and pulled his mate to the side, saying, ‘Let the lady through!'"

She added:

"We really weren’t supposed to mix and they used to tell us off for it. One day, we sneaked off to the pub around the corner and a doctor saw us. After that, they tried to have us moved further apart, but we protested singing ‘We shall not, we shall not be moved!’ until they let us stay. We really were inseparable."

Meanwhile, Darren stated:

"We were both having a really nice time so I said to her, ‘What would you do if I gave you a kiss,’ expecting she’d say something like, ‘I’d give you a slap’. But she didn’t, she just said, ‘I probably wouldn’t do anything’. And that was it. from that moment on – we were boyfriend and girlfriend ... I knew that I was ill and that I might not make it."

"But with CF you can be the healthiest person in the world and then one day get an infection that kills you the next day. So I thought, “What’s the point in not asking Lauren to be mine? She’s made me happier than anyone else in the world and we’re both going to die anyway – so we might as well be together and be happy."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Press Association]]

Darren and Lauren's story is a tragic one, and it's sad that circumstances have conspired to give them such a fleeting relationship. Despite that, they've still been determined to make the best of a terrible situation, and with his wife by his side, Darren knows that he will not be passing away alone.

If you'd like to contribute some money towards curing this genetic condition, then please visit the official homepage of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to make a donation or learn more.