Chase Smith and Sadie Mills got married on April 29 in Sadie’s front yard. They were both 18 and in their last year of high school. Before you say that these two are too young to be married, you should know that their wedding was full of high emotions because it was just a few days after Chase found out he had three to five months to live.
Chase has been fighting a very rare and aggressive form of cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma for the past six years. Before they got married, he and Sadie had been seeing each other for six months.
“Overall, it was the best day of my life,” Sadie said. I’ve always wanted an outdoor wedding, and it meant a lot to me that Chase came up with the idea of putting the altar right where we went on our first date and shared our first kiss.
Before Chase got this new information, the two of them had made very different plans.
Chase and Sadie were going to finish high school and go to college together. They also wanted to keep swimming and diving. They also had plans to get married, but not for a long time. But Chase’s new diagnosis made all of their plans feel more urgent, and they decided that getting married made the most sense.
Chase found out in March that his cancer had come back, and there was just too much of it this time. Chase found out that he has tumors all over his body and that the odds are no longer in his favor, even if he gets more treatment. So he and Sadie made a decision, and they’re happy with it.
Chase told People, “We definitely thought about getting married in the future, and we knew we wanted to. People do say things like, “Oh, they’re getting married because he might die soon,” but that’s not at all why we decided to do it. It was more of a wake-up call that “Hey, God wants you two to be together.”
Sadie said that it was meant to be: “What was cool about that was that when we first talked about getting married, Chase brought it up, and I already knew what he was going to say. So I stopped him and said, “No, I already know that.” So the fact that the time was right was definitely a sign from God.”
Sadie and Chase told their parents about their plans and then spent the next four days planning the whole wedding. The most helpful people were Sadie’s parents. She said, “I have the best two parents I could have.” “For them to be 100% behind me and my choices and decisions about who I love and when I wanted to get married, it couldn’t mean more to me than it did.”
Chase and Sadie also followed tradition and didn’t see each other until the ceremony. Chase says he was totally surprised. “I was so happy to see her because it had been all day since I had seen her. It was just the fact that he could see her… It made me feel like I’d been hit in the chest.”
Chase and Sadie also know that their future is more uncertain than usual because of Chase’s diagnosis. But they are glad to deal with it together. Chase says, “That’s all because of faith in God. With God, I know I always have a chance. As long as he’s with me, I’m always strong enough to do anything.”
People from all over the world have been moved by Chase and Sadie’s story. Many people have been moved enough to send emails to the Indianapolis Star, which broke the story. “Time is the most valuable gift we are given,” wrote Zaq Harrison. I’m sure that this young couple will enjoy every second they spend together. “Who here can say that?”
Mike and Billie Rouse, who are also married, saw parts of their own lives in Chase and Sadie. They met in high school and fell in love right away. Mike got adenoid cystic carcinoma in his junior year and had to have part of his face cut off. He was also told by doctors that he only had five years left to live. Mike and Billie have been married for a long time, which is great.
Billie gave Chase and Sadie some advice: “All we knew was that we wanted to be together for five weeks or five years. We knew how to live in the moment and enjoy the simple things. Live big young friends. We’re thinking of you.”