Find a man to love you as much as I do
Bride finds new partner after dying groom’s plea
WHEN Will Harrison was told he had just two weeks to live his reaction was incredible.
Instead of worrying about himself, his only thought was for his childhood sweetheart and fiancée Shannen.
Selfless Will, 23, was adamant that she should be happy and told her: “Find someone who loves you as much as I do.”
In February 2016 the young couple’s lives had fallen apart when Will was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer.
Their planned dream wedding in Mexico had to be scrapped for a ceremony in their hometown of Wigan.
Days later – just two months after his diagnosis – Will died in Shannen’s arms.
She said: “He was a huge Liverpool fan and my family has Irish roots. We both love the song The Fields of Athenry and I put it on one last time.
“I put my hand on his heart and held his hand. The song stopped. He took a final breath and then he was gone.”
Numb
Shannen, now 25, devastated by grief threw herself into partying at clubs and bars in a bid to mask the pain of losing her beloved husband.
Amazingly, four months after cancer took her husband, she met the man who fulfils Will’s dying wish.
Stuart Daniels, 30, became Shannen’s rock, supporting her through her darkest times and eventually put a smile back on her face. Two years on they are happily planning a future together.
Shannen said: “After Will’s death I was in pieces. I just felt numb. But Stuart put me back together. I wouldn’t have got through it without him.
“He knows I’ll always love Will and that Will will always be a part of my life, but he is happy with that.
“I know Will would be happy for me, too. He’d be dead chuffed I’d met such a great guy who treats me right. He’d probably be saying to me: ‘Why haven’t you had babies with him yet?’”
Will and Shannen were going to start trying for a family after they married but they never got the chance. She said: “He told me he wished he’d been able to give me the baby I’d always wanted.”
Will is still part of Shannen and Stuart’s lives. They are surrounded by photos from her wedding day to Will in the house the pair bought together, aged 20. The couple have tea at Will’s dad’s and nights out with his sister and her boyfriend. Will and Shannen went to neighbouring schools and saw each other every day on the bus. But it wasn’t until January 2010 that shy Will finally plucked up the courage to ask bubbly Shannen for a date. They soon became inseparable. Will, who worked for his family’s blind-making business, proposed in Egypt in 2013 and the following year they started planning a £10,000 fairytale wedding.
But towards the end of 2015 he started losing a lot of weight. They blamed stress of the wedding. But by February 2016 Will was seriously ill and had terminal stage-four bowel cancer.
He only had a couple of weeks to live. Shannen said: “Will broke down. He turned to me and took my face in his hands and said to me: ‘Make sure you find someone who loves you as much as me’. But all I wanted was to be his wife.
“At the end it was just me and him,” said Shannen, who works as a project coordinator for Schneider Electric.
“It means everything to me that I became Will’s wife before he died.
“We had the best wedding day ever. There was no talk of cancer, no sadness. I’m lucky to have found happiness again with Stu, but I’ll never forget my Will.”
On May 20 she is running the Simplyhealth Great Manchester 10k Run in Will’s memory for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Sponsor Shannen at justgiving.com/ fundraising/shannen-harrison. To enter the Simplyhealth Manchester run visit: Greatrun.org/manchester