04 January 2023 , 08:47
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A young bride and former Cambridge graduate died just weeks after her wedding day, as she has been remembered by her husband as a "beautiful" woman "with a boundless enthusiasm for life."
Her husband, Angus Hall-Hulme, 49, has now gone on to urge people to support lifesaving cancer research, after his wife passed away from bowel cancer, report Cambridgeshire Live.
Victoria Hall-Hulme was only a bride for a month, and tragically died aged 33.
She had been diagnosed with bowel cancer just a year before she graduated with a first-class degree from Cambridge U niversity, and started a career in venture capital.
Just four weeks after their wedding, Mrs Hall-Hulme passed away surrounded by family (PA)
Her family are now supporting the Stand Up To Cancer campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 (PA)Victoria first met husband Mr Hall-Hulme, after they recognised each other from a dating site, while walking through Hyde Park in London.
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While the couple did not speak, Mrs Hall-Hulme later ended up contacting Mr Hall-Hulme and they went on a date.
Following a whirlwind romance, they had a blissful wedding in Chelsea on August 4 this year.
However, in between the couple’s meeting in Hyde Park and their wedding were months of pain and heartbreak as Mrs Hall-Hulme had been diagnosed with cancer.
Sadly, just four weeks after, she died.
Mrs Hall-Hulme was a first-class graduate from Cambridge (PA)She had had no inkling anything was wrong until she suffered two weeks of abdominal cramps, a little weight loss and fatigue.
Speaking about her diagnosis earlier last year, Mrs Hall-Hulme said the diagnosis “was so terrifying” that her initial reaction was to push her new boyfriend away.
“Why would anyone want to go out with someone with cancer?” she said.
"But Angus kept coming back, and every time I pushed him away, we would find ourselves being drawn back. He was my new best friend and so supportive.”
Surgeons then went on to Mrs Hall-Hulme’s tumour, where she began a six-month round of chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, the news surrounding her bowel cancer only got worse, as in March 2022, scans revealed the cancer had spread to her peritoneum - the tissue that lines the abdominal wall.
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Mrs Hall-Hulme organised a wedding in six weeks from her hospital bed (PA)She said: “I didn’t even know what the peritoneum was.
"The only words I heard were ‘It’s not good news. I’m sorry Victoria, your cancer has spread. It’s not curable’. I couldn’t understand – how could that be? It totally turned my life upside down.
“All my plans for having children, starting an awesome new job, all the things we strive for when we assume a long life, were scuppered, just like that.”
During the summer, when Mrs Hall-Hulme was feeling at rock bottom and was stuck in hospital, she found solace in talking to her husband, saying: “It was a scary time.
“One night we had quite an emotional talk and I told him he had a life to lead and we knew where mine was going. He said he would rather spend months with me in his life than years without me in it.
“I said ‘If I ever get out of here, will you marry me?’ and he said ‘Of course’. We cried – it felt emotional and romantic.
“I felt that when I leave this world, I could go knowing I had been fulfilled and that my legacy would be a partnership we created, even though I want him to move on and meet someone. It was good to know I was worth hanging around for.”
Angus Hulme and Victoria Hall-Hulme on their wedding day on August 4, 2022 in London (PA)Knowing her time was limited, Mrs Hall-Hulme organised a wedding in six weeks from her hospital bed, as one friend even made her dress while others helped arrange the service at St Thomas More’s Catholic Church.
Mrs Hall-Hulme said the wedding was “magical and an absolute miracle it happened at all”.
But, her health continued to deteriorate and she was moved to her family’s home at West Wittering, West Sussex, and then to St Wilfred’s Hospice, Chichester, where she died surrounded by her family on September 2.
Following her passing, her family now are supporting the Stand Up To Cancer campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, to build on the huge fundraising efforts Mrs Hall-Hulme made before her death.
Speaking about his wife's death, Mr Hall-Hulme, 49, said: “Victoria was a beautiful, fit young woman with a boundless enthusiasm for life.
"Cancer can affect anyone’s life, at any time, so we really have no choice other than to unite against it and help support scientists to keep making new discoveries".
Lynn Daly, Cancer Research UK spokeswoman for London, said: “We’re asking everyone to Stand Up To Cancer and raise money that could help get new tests and treatments to those who need them most.
“If we all stand together, we can save lives".