Story By: Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Asia Wire Report
A 35-year-old man has married his fiancee’s corpse at her funeral to fulfil the breast-cancer victim’s dying wish.
Xu Shinan from the city of Dalian in the north-eastern Chinese peninsula of Liaodong married his 34-year-old fiancee’s corpse at a city funeral parlour.
According to reports, Yang Liu died of breast cancer on 14th October after battling the disease for five and a half years.
On 6th October, the beautiful bride-to-be slipped into a coma and Xu said: “She no longer recognised me, and in the end we didn’t get a chance to say farewell.”
A touching montage of the couple’s 12 years together was displayed on a screen as Xu made his vows and married the love of his life in her open casket surrounded by roses.
He said: “I know I promised you I wouldn’t cry, but sorry, I couldn’t do it.”
The couple planned to get married in 2013, but put the ceremony on hold when Yang felt pain in her right breast and was later diagnosed with breast cancer.
The beautiful young woman, who was just 28 at the time, was told she only had five years to live.
Over the next few years, Yang continued to undergo targeted treatment including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and she documented her experiences on the Chinese social network Weibo as support for other cancer sufferers.
The Chinese broadcaster CCTV wanted to interview the “star patient”, as doctors referred to her, but she declined the offer after losing her hair from chemotherapy and not wanting to appear on television in such a condition.
At one point, it appeared as though Yang was beating the illness and the couple began planning their wedding again. However, the bride-to-be’s cancer returns and quickly spread to other parts of her body.
According to reports, Xu remained by his fiancee’s side 24 hours a day for one week after her death.
The young couple met at university and fell in love in August 2007.
During Yang’s funeral where she was dressed in a white gown, Xu said: “All I can do is to fulfil your wish and letting you wear this wedding dress fulfils my wish.”
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