When Shannon McKenna and Kristopher Cowan fell in love as teenagers, there were no warning signs they’d both be diagnosed with cancer in their 20s.
Healthy and young, they were planning their future together when back-to-back health crises suddenly struck.
His symptoms started first — a tumor discovered at 23 just as he was thinking of proposing to McKenna. She was his caregiver as he went through treatment.
Then, as they were planning their wedding, she found a lump at 28. It was Cowan’s turn to take care of her during dark times when she didn’t think she’d make it to 30.
The couple, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, say they have a unique perspective of each other after the ordeal.
“It challenged our relationship a lot because we were 20-somethings put through the ringer,” McKenna, now 31, tells TODAY.com.
“But I think now hindsight, looking back at everything, we were made for each other because who else could get you through something like this than somebody who’s done it before?”
“It brought our relationship together much stronger,” Cowan, now 29, adds.
“Every day, we got up and we just knew this wasn’t going to stop us. We were here to beat this, and we’re going to live our life for us and live it in the moment.”
Mystery leg pain
McKenna and Cowan met in 2010 when they were both in high school and attended a week-long accounting camp — not the most romantic of settings.
“We were in rundown dorms and in old classrooms. It was not glamorous,” she recalls.
They were both outgoing and quickly became friends. He recalls that she was “absolutely one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met.” They soon began dating and have been together pretty much ever since.
She became a nurse; he went into marketing.
In late 2017, Cowan thought he pulled his groin muscle while playing sports. When…
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