A ROYTON couple who had to delay their plans to marry when they both became seriously ill are hoping Advertiser readers will help them win the wedding of their dreams.

Paul Dean met Joanne Mayall on an internet chatroom five years ago and the pair quickly realised they were made for each other.

"I think you know when you have met ‘the one’, and within a month I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Jo and have children," said Paul.

The 39-year-old gave up his job as a lecturer in Nottingham and set up home with Joanne at Campania Street, in Royton.

Within a month Paul had proposed to Joanne and the pair began making plans to marry. However, in a cruel twist of fate, both were struck down by serious illnesses.

Paul said: "I got something called diverticular disease which infects the large intestine and needed an operation, so the wedding plans were postponed."

Next, 35-year-old Joanne fell ill and was initially diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. However, she continued to lose weight and it was later confirmed she had bowel cancer.

Paul said: "We had operations around the same time and have matching scars. Joanne’s situation is much worse than mine and I thought I would lose her on more than one occasion. She has been very, very ill and had several doses of chemotherapy. It has been horrendous, but she has been so brave, a real fighter."

In addition to this, Joanne has had septicemia and three bouts of MRSA. All her reproductive organs have been removed, meaning she will never be able to have children.

Joanne’s tumours spread to her lungs and she has to have regular scans, with the couple even spending last Christmas at the Royal Oldham Hospital following yet another operation.

Inevitably, through all the trauma, wedding plans had to take a back seat. But all that changed when Paul saw a competition for a £10,000 dream wedding in a Sunday newspaper.

He said: "The competition was for couples who have not been able to get married due to unforeseen circumstances and seemed to relate very much to our story. We are not very traditional and we had been planning to marry in a field in posh clothes and wellies!"

Paul said if they were lucky enough to win they would want to give something back to the nurses on ward F5 at the Royal Oldham, whom he says have been brilliant.

"They will all be invited to the wedding and part of the money will be spent on makeovers for them all," he said.

Of course, there is a catch. The couple need YOUR votes to win and we are urging our readers to pick up the phone and call 09012290606 and press 1 or textWED1 to 84080.