'Loving each other, building memories:' B.C. couple facing life-threatening illnesses cherishes every day

Sawatsky Sign-Off: Enduring Love Adam finds out the enduring love story behind a couple facing perpetual health challenges.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Rather than ‘Once upon a time,’ Hayley and Bill Atkinson’s love story begins that night he abruptly left in the middle of playing a card game with friends, and didn’t return for a long time.

“And I was like, ‘Where did you go? We thought you went to the bathroom and never came back,’” Hayley recalls. “And he said, ‘I needed some fresh air.’”

What Bill actually needed was to prepare to propose, and after he got down on bended knee, Hayley said yes.

“But he didn’t hear me answer,” Hayley laughs. “So he stood back up and said, ‘What?!’”

While that didn’t go according to plan, Hayley and Bill looked forward to the rest of their life unfolding like a fairy tale.

“He was my best friend, and we had so much fun together,” Hayley says. “[We thought] this was just going to be fun.”

But then — just weeks later — Hayley was unexpectedly diagnosed with life-threatening kidney failure. So, Bill bumped up the wedding day, to officially vow in sickness and in health

“We wanted to go through that journey together,” Bill says. “And stand side by side as we were going through that.”

“That” included enduring dialysis, chemotherapy, and having their dream of having a child dashed.

“It was devastating,” Hayley says.

But despite so much uncertainty, couple was committed to focus on what they couldn’t be more certain of — love.

“We just loved each other,” Bill says. “And each day made the most of whatever was coming.”

And what eventually came was Hayley battling kidney failure twice, receiving two separate transplants, and finally —against all odds — giving birth to a pair of healthy daughters.

“We were ready to take on the world,” Hayley says. “We beat this!”

And that’s when we expect the narrator to say they all lived ‘happily ever after’. But this is real life, and Bill’s been diagnosed with aggressive male breast cancer, stage four.

“It was so hard to see him suffer,” Hayley says they’ve endured through finding fun in every moment, which she written about in her blog Bill’s Bad Booby.

“There’s lots of stuff we can’t control,” Bill says. “But we can control how we approach life.”

So rather than being devastated by his diagnosis, Bill and Hayley are choosing to be grateful for this opportunity to focus on what really matters.

“Loving the people you have in your life while have them,” Hayley says.

So, the couple is committed to spending every day spreading joy to others, from volunteering in their community, to having fun with their friends and family. Their friends have responded by launching a GoFundMe page.

“[It’s all about] loving each other and building memories,” Hayley says. “Because we’ll have those forever, even if we don’t have Bill forever.”

Because rather than a fairy tale love story, Bill and Hayley are grateful to be co-creating a never-ending one.