A DEVASTATED daughter moved her wedding forward after her stepdad was given six months left to live.

Lorna Langham, 30, had no plans to have her wedding anytime soon. But then her stepdad Mark Conway was diagnosed with cancer for the second time.

Mark of Sunnyside Avenue suffered with oesophagus cancer in 2018 and underwent surgery at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

He said: “After the surgery I was given the all clear, then I had a check up at the doctors and they found out I had liver cancer.

“Then they told me in October last year that I only had six months to live. I didn’t know what to think, it felt like my world was coming to an end. I just have to fight it as best as I can.”

After he broke the bad news to his family his stepdaughter Lorna decided she wanted to have her wedding as soon as possible because she didn't want it to happen without him there.

She said: “Scott and I weren’t planning on getting married for another two or three years. We had to plan everything in three weeks so he could be there and before he started his chemo.

“It was really stressful but we managed to get everything together in time. It was small only close family and friends were there but it was lovely.

“It has all been a bit of a whirlwind, the news was quite a shock because he was recovering so well from the surgery and given the all clear,” said Lorna, of Front Hill Walk.

Mark is undergoing chemotherapy sessions at the Great Western Hospital.

But on the same weekend in November as the wedding was held he staged a fundraiser at the High Street Club for Macmillan Cancer Support.

He had only invited around 150 family and friends to the social event but more than double the number turned up on the day.

He said: “It was a great night, it was brilliant and so lively. We had a few bands playing and a raffle so we could raise some money for the charity because they do so much.

“People I knew came from all over the place including Scotland and Ireland which meant so much to me.

“It was an amazing weekend to have the wedding too.”

After counting all the money that was donated they were so surprised.

Mark told the Adver: “We had around £2,500, it was so great to raise all that money, we were all so amazed.”

Even Lorna was surprised by it.

She said: “We weren’t expecting that at all especially as the raffle was only a pound for a strip, but everyone had been so generous on the day.

“It was just a good weekend because I just wanted him there and wanted him to be well before he had any treatment. And it was lovely to have everyone there.”

The money raised at the event will be donated to the charity which supports anyone living with cancer and their families. As well as nursing it offers financial and emotional support and information to patients.