A mum-of-five lost her battle with cancer just hours after marrying her soulmate.
Jade Tabra, 37 and Adam Kemp, 42, wed in a small ceremony surrounded by close family and friends on November 3.
Jade had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in August 2023 and waswas given just three months to live in September this year.
It was then the couple, who have been together 19 years, decided to get married.
They tied the knot at their home in Milton Keynes at 2pm and Jade died in Adam’s arms at 10.45pm the same day.
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‘She looked me in the eye and said she was so glad to be Mrs Kemp and have our family,’ Adam said.
‘Then her head slumped and I knew her soul has left. She had gone.
‘We stayed there, our heads touching and I said: “I love you, baby. It’s okay, you can go now no more pain.”
‘We stayed like that for a while, just us.’
Adam described the day as ‘perfect’.
‘I got to finally marry the most beautiful woman in the world. I love you forever and always, Jade Louise Kemp.’
Jade began suffering stomach pains and losing weight during her final pregnancy but doctors put it down to the extra strain on her body.
However, after her son was born in February 2023, the problems continued and she went for tests.
She was diagnosed with Stage 2 stomach cancer but it was so aggressive that it progressed to Stage 4 within weeks, while she was waiting for treatment.
‘It floored her,’ said Adam, an Aldi worker.
‘It made her so ill and so sick, but she was so brave and just kept going, fighting the cancer all the way.
‘And all the time being an amazing partner and amazing mother.’
Adam said they always knew they wanted to marry one day as they ‘were soulmates and wanted to be together forever’.
‘But because we saw so many people marry and then split up after a few years, we always joked that we’d wait until our 20th anniversary and then have our big dream wedding,’ he explained.
In May this year the couple were told the promising news that Jade was stable and could stop the treatment.
But her health quickly deteriorated again and in September tests showed the cancer has spread to the womb and ovaries.
With no more treatment possible, Jade learnt she had just three months to live.
Adam said: ‘She was so strong. She started a bucket list and all she wanted to do was make sure the children had the best Christmas.
‘But deep down she knew she wasn’t even going to make Christmas.’
The pair had planned to marry on November 21, 2026 – the date of their 20th anniversary – but after the devastating news, Adam they knew they couldn’t wait.
Friends, together with a hospice team, rallied round to organise the paperwork, a registrar, a cake and a buffet.
Adopted as a baby, Jade had no family and her dream was for Adam’s father to give her away and to wear a bridesmaid dress she’d worn at his wedding.
Friends quickly had it altered to fit because she had lost so much weight.
Adam explained: ‘The end was coming so quickly. We knew we didn’t have long.
‘The registrar came to our house because Jade was so poorly.
‘She was wheeled up the hallway then I wheeled her into the room. I knelt down beside her during the ceremony so we could be on the same level.
‘We said ‘I do’ and she reached up, brushed my tears away and said “Don’t cry, I love you”.
“Everyone there was in floods of tears and said they have never seen a wedding filled with so much love.”
While guests ate the wedding buffet, Adam took an exhausted Jade to lay down on the sofa.
Later, as everybody left, he changed her into her pyjamas and made her comfortable, and the two shared memories together.
‘Then her breathing changed. I called Willen Hospice and they came out, checked her, and said it wouldn’t be long,’ said Adam, who has given up his job to care for their children.
‘I knew then that I would lose my soulmate on the day I married her.’
Although struggling with the grief of losing his partner, Adam said he’s comforted by the fact that he and Jade had their beautiful wedding day.
Meanwhile friends have upped Jade’s original fundraising page target to £4,000 in a bid to help the family through the following tough months and pay towards the funeral.
Around £2,000 has been raised so far. You can view the page and donate here.
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