'It feels like a film': Bride-to-be, 28, makes heartbreaking five-week decision

A bride has swiftly arranged her dream wedding in just five weeks after being told she had only a short time to live. Ellie Downes, 28, received the devastating news four years after sustaining a swollen knee while arresting a suspect as a new police officer revealed a rare form of bone cancer.

The ex-officer from York underwent chemotherapy, amputation, and eventually became paralysed before doctors declared she had just "a few short months to live". "I didn't know anyone could have this much bad luck," Ellie said.

"When I talk about what has happened - it doesn't feel real and feels like a film."

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She reflected on how before her cancer diagnosis, her life was lining up perfectly: "Everything was perfect, as I had just bought a house with my partner, Max, I started my new job and we even started trying for a family. But after the diagnosis my whole world has been tipped upside down."

Ellie first became aware there was an issue when experiencing pain in her knee during an arrest while serving as an officer in 2020. She felt a pain in her knee as she was kneeling down on the ground.

Initially thinking the discomfort stemmed from her recent uptake of running, her GP advised seeing a physiotherapist, presuming it was a muscle strain, reports Yorkshire Live.

However, when a physio clarified it wasn't a typical running injury, Ellie underwent an MRI scan which exposed her osteosarcoma of the left proximal tibia—a condition affecting just 160 people annually in the UK. Ellie was just 25 at the time of her diagnosis.

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Ellie was immediately scheduled for chemotherapy, and within a few weeks all her hair fell out. "It feels like I have been on a hamster wheel and it's just been 'go go go' with chemo and suddenly my lovely long hair was gone," she said.

"I was never been poorly as a child until my cancer diagnosis. I was happy and healthy - so it has come out of nowhere."

For two years, Ellie endured chemotherapy, until finally doctors told her she was stable. But the welcome news didn't last.

"After doing chemotherapy for two years, doctors said that I didn't have any new tumours and I was stable - so we thought it was good news but a few weeks later, we got the news that the cancer had spread," Ellie said.

"I had to have surgery to remove a bit of my knee and tibia for a prosthetic support to be put on but there was massive complications. I then had a fall that caused unrepairable damage to my leg.

"So, the doctors told me that I had to decide that either I continue to struggle or have an amputation. So I decided to have an amputation in May this year.

"I felt free as I felt like I was 'chopping' off the cancer, even though that was not the case."

Having taken the decision to amputate, Ellie felt empowered and ready to move on with her life. But one week before she was due to have her prosthetic leg fitted, she was back in hospital.

Doctors found a new tumour in her lungs which left her paralysed below the chest.

"All the hard work for it [the prosthetic leg] and training was now useless as I could not move any part of my body," she said. "When I talk about what has happened - it doesn't feel real and feels like a film, as once again we got told there were no new tumours - so I was well enough to start planning our wedding.

"However, about five weeks ago, I had a lot of back pain and got told that I had new tumours growing in my lungs and that the cancer was incurable.

"Doctors said that now I only have a few 'short months to live', but what does that even mean?"

Following the news, Ellie immediately brought forward her marriage to Max Dickinson, 29, giving them only a few weeks to plan.

She said: "We were meant to get married next year, so we had to bring it forward.

"We are got married at a registry office last week, which was for family and close friends but the big wedding at end of November at Sandburn Hall in York.

"It has been something good to focus on even though it has been crazy trying to organise everything at short notice."

One thing Ellie and Max did not have to worry about was the financial side of the wedding, as one of her friends, Alicia Thomas, organised a Gofundme page which raised more than £25,000 to give her the 'wedding of her dreams' and to create happy memories.

Ellie said: "I want to say a massive thank you to Alicia. I was so overwhelmed by the support of everyone who has helped.

"Not only has it has paid for the entire wedding but it has allowed us the freedom of being together and not worry about bills as my partner has been allowed some time off work."

After the couple's big day, she plans on having fun in Paris with Max. "We are going on Eurostar, since that is the only way to travel for me as I am not allowed to fly," Ellie said. "I have never been to Paris, so I am really looking forward to it and do everything 'traditional' on the list.

"We were even thinking about seeing a show at the Moulin Rouge as it is my favourite film of all time."