Daniel O’Halloran recounts marrying love of his life Tracy Tozer, knowing she was about to die from breast cancer
For 24 precious hours, Daniel O’Halloran lived his happiest day – marrying the love of his life, knowing she may not even survive the night.
For 24 hours, Daniel O’Halloran was the happiest he had ever been.
The Christie Downs man was marrying the “love of his life”, surrounded by friends and family on a sunny Saturday afternoon in March, knowing full well his new wife may not even make it through the night.
Tracy Tozer, 50, was nearing the end of her courageous battle with breast cancer – a fight that began only 11 months earlier. She died the next day.
“She meant the world to me,” Mr O’Halloran said. “You just can’t hang on to the fact that they’re going to pass away – you’ve got to live in the now and hope for the best.
“I knew she was sick, I knew she was going to pass away but I didn’t care. I just wanted to spend as much time as I could with her – and enjoy the time we had left.”
In April last year, Ms Tozer, of Christie Downs, felt two lumps on her breast and was sent for mammogram a week later.
Scans revealed 7mm and 4mm lumps and, by the time she had her biopsy done another week later, 7mm had grown to 1.5cm, and doctors discovered a further two lumps.
Ms Tozer underwent a mastectomy and had 24 lymph nodes removed – 22 of which were cancerous.
After enduring nearly nine months of chemotherapy, Ms Tozer was told in January doctors had “got it all” and she was now in remission, but she was not.
“What we didn’t realise was that one of the cells from the breast cancer had moved to the liver, and the doctors didn’t realise so it just sat dormant until radiation started,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“She finished radiation on February 14 and on March 4 she went into hospital with severe abdominal pain – they (doctors) thought it was gallstones. She went up had some tests done and the surgical team said ‘sorry, it’s cancer’.
“On March 11, we were told there was nothing they could do for her – she was put into palliative care.”
At the direction of doctors, Mr O’Halloran and Ms Tozer brought their scheduled wedding forward and were married on March 14 at 5.30pm at Flinders Medical Centre’s hospice.
The next day, Ms Tozer passed away.
“The night of the wedding, I stayed in hospital next to her and every time she (Tracy) woke up, she looked at me with a big smile on her face and then would drift off back to sleep,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“Unfortunately in the morning when she woke up, she couldn’t speak. Twenty-four hours after the wedding, I was sitting there holding her hand and she looked me in the eyes, smiled, and drew her last breath.”
Now, Mr O’Halloran is urging people to get regular health checks in the hopes Ms Tozer’s legacy will live on and help save lives.
“If one person gets checked and gets saved, her fight against cancer and her dying from it means so much more,” he said.
The photos were taken by Port Noarlunga photographer Kirsty McVey, who offers her services for free for end-of-life photo sessions.
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Originally published as Daniel O’Halloran recounts marrying love of his life Tracy Tozer, knowing she was about to die from breast cancer
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