When Aaliyah Aries (23) and Mia Cumbo (22) first met at Bedfordshire-based Keech Hospice, they were two teenagers facing serious health challenges. Six years, on 29 August, the couple from Caddington married in front of around 100 family and friends at Aldwickbury Park Golf Club in Harpenden. Poignantly, they chose to have a collection box on the big day to raise money for Keech.
Both girls were diagnosed with serious conditions aged just 12. Aaliyah has a life-limiting heart condition and is expected to need a heart transplant in the future, while Mia was diagnosed with stage three thyroid cancer. She is now in remission.
They were referred to Keech, where they joined a girls’ group for young people living with serious and life-limiting conditions. The group gave them a chance to meet other young people, make friends and simply have fun away from hospitals and treatment. It was on a Keech trip to Center Parcs in 2019 that they met.
“We instantly clicked and became inseparable,” said Aaliyah.
“We were best friends to start with but later realised it was more than that. I proposed to Mia during a weekend away to Manchester in 2024 and we started planning the wedding straight away. We couldn’t wait for the day to come!”
Aaliyah says Keech became a huge part of her childhood. As well as the girls’ group, she received respite care, art therapy and tutoring arranged by the hospice, which helped her pass her GCSEs.
Mia said: “I have so many amazing memories of Keech. It made a pretty rubbish time so much better. It helped us to see the sunlight at the end of the hospital corridor and it brought me and Aaliyah together.
It seemed only fitting that on our special day we gave back to the hospice that played such an important role in our lives.”
Deborah Skelton, Children’s Locality Matron at Keech Hospice, said: “Aaliyah and Mia’s story shows just how important it is for young people living with serious health conditions to have somewhere they can simply be themselves, make friends and create happy memories.
“We’re so pleased that Keech could be part of their story, and we wish them every happiness as they begin this next chapter together.”
Beneath the excitement of their new marriage is the reality that neither takes the future for granted.
Aaliyah continues to live with a serious heart condition, while Mia knows there is always the possibility her cancer could return.
“We talk about the fact that we might not get the opportunity to grow old together,” said Aaliyah. “But we don’t want to wait for life to happen. We want to make the most of it while we can.”
Watch Aaliyah's and Mia's interview on ITV Anglia West
