‘Loving you was the only option I ever considered’: Rhys and Tayla Couzens’ love story through terminal diagnosis

Rhys Couzens had married the woman of his dreams. But a short four months later, he was reading his new wife’s eulogy: “Loving you was the only option I ever considered.”

It’s a well-versed tale in modern romance.

Boy meets girl after swiping or liking on a dating app, and after a few dates that connection can sometimes grow into something more.

A sizzling succession of love and romance, weddings and plans of a life together. Maybe a baby or two.

But when Rhys Couzens stumbled upon the picture of a beautiful woman called Tayla on dating app Hinge, it was the start of a truly unique love story.

Tayla had breast cancer. In fact, she wasn’t going to survive. But that didn’t stand in the way of their growing love for each other.

“I didn’t know a full diagnosis straight away but it was pointed out to me early enough and I understood the situation and so from there we just tried to do everything we could,” Rhys said.

“We tried to make the most of our time … we didn’t expect it to be this quick.”

As part of The Advertiser’s Too Young for Cancer, a campaign aimed at shining a light on the troubling rise of young people being diagnosed with cancer, Rhys, with Tayla’s mother Tracey Leaney, share their love and loss after Tayla died at just age 29.

Tayla Couzens was 29 years old when she died. Picture: Supplied by family

Tayla Couzens with Cinderella in Disneyland on her honeymoon. Picture: Supplied by family

For Tayla, the start of her cancer journey came four years before she met Rhys. At just 23 years old in 2018 she found a lump which a doctor quickly said was benign.

Her grandmother, who had battled breast cancer four times, refused to accept the diagnosis. She instead booked an appointment with her own surgeon.

Weeks later, new tests revealed Tayla actually had stage three breast cancer.

A lumpectomy and lymph node removal wasn’t able to clear all cancer cells so Tayla made the decision to have a full mastectomy.

“She was given the all clear after her surgery,” her mum, Tracey, told The Advertiser.

“I remember sitting in the doctor’s office and said to them: ‘So when do we expect Tayla’s next check up?’

“And they said ‘we don’t do check ups unless they are symptoms’. So I sort of just left it at that.”

But in August 2021, Tayla found a lump on her sternum. The cancer had not only returned but spread and doctors told her she was terminal.

Tayla Couzens with her husband Rhys on their honeymoon. Picture: Supplied by family

Tayla ringing the chemo bell. Picture: Supplied by family

But for Tayla, a terminal cancer diagnosis before age 30 wasn’t going to derail her quest to find true love.

She was on dating app Hinge when she and Rhys, a chef in McLaren Vale, connected in mid-2022. It came as Rhys was helping his mum through the final stages of her battle with bowel cancer.

“We were talking through all of that and she was being really supportive and compassionate because she understood,” Rhys, 36, said.

Rhys proposed four months after the couple started dating at Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills during a Christmas light display.

“I don’t think she saw it coming,” he said.

The couple married almost a year later on November 11 2023.

But then another blow was dealt, with Tayla’s mum Tracey also being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 45.

“She was my rock because she had been through it all. She was the one I went to for anything,” Tracey said.

“She was really positive. She saw a lot of positivity through all of this.”

Rhys described his wife as “outgoing and bubbly when she felt comfortable”. Picture: Supplied by family

Tayla’s mum Tracey Leaney was diagnosed with breast cancer four months after Tayla relapsed. Picture: Supplied by family

Ms Leaney said her daughter trusted that she didn’t need to return for check ups. Picture: Supplied by family

So positive, in fact, that in 2024 Tayla started planning her 30th birthday for the January of the year after. It was set to be Disney-themed after a six-week trip to the US and Disneyland with Rhys, with a Princess Jasmine outfit picked out.

But on March 27, 2024, she lost her battle with cancer. Tayla was just 29 years old.

The Princess Jasmine outfit was instead worn as she was cremated.

In Rhys’ eulogy to his “real life Disney princess”, he said: “I’d do it all and more because being so completely and utterly in love with you was worth way more than this pain that I will now live with forever, will ever be, I can bear that for you. Loving you was the only option I ever considered.”

Tayla’s family at the zoo. Picture: Supplied by family,

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting Australian women, with 57 people being diagnosed with breast cancer every day.

And as Tracey shares both her and her daughter Tayla’s cancer journey, they are sadly part of a rising number of under 50s being diagnosed with cancer.

It’s a subject very much in the spotlight after Catherine, Princess of Wales, shared her own cancer diagnosis at just 42 years old in March.

Hollywood actor Olivia Munn, 43, has also detailed her “terrifying” cancer journey on social media, saying she now no longer fears death.

It is just the tip of the iceberg of what doctors are calling the start of a young cancer “epidemic” that will accelerate over the next few years.

By 2030, a recent study published in BMJ Oncology estimated the number of these early-onset cancer diagnoses could increase by roughly 30 per cent worldwide – and the number of people who die from their conditions could rise by about 20 per cent. It’s a startling figure.

What’s causing this? Recent research by the Taussig Cancer Institute in the US suggests our cells are ageing faster than ever due to a rise in stressful sedentary lifestyles and poor food choices. But really, the rise has doctors baffled and in March it was announced that Government-funded researchers at top universities in the US and UK will receive up to $25million over five years to investigate.

Tayla Couzens lost her life on March 27 to breast cancer, she was only 29 years old. Picture: Supplied by family,

And as The Advertiser launches itsawareness campaign, Too Young for Cancer, Tracey, in tribute to her daughter, calls for all young people to make sure they see a doctor if they’re showing even the slightest of symptoms.

“Even if you get told it’s nothing the first time, go back. Go see someone else, go get a second opinion,” Tracey said.

Amanda Robertson, information and support manager from The Cancer Council, also added that women aged 40 and above are eligible for a free mammogram every two years with BreastScreen SA to find early signs of breast cancer.

“If you’re younger than 40, you can speak with your GP if you have a family history of breast cancer, are concerned about breast cancer risk, or would like to know more about reducing your risk of breast cancer,” Ms Robertson said.

If you would like more information or support about living with cancer, treatment or diagnosis, please contact the Cancer Council on 13 11 20.