2017 Winner
Jake Coates
Emmy and Jake Coates met when they were 11 and after two decades of highs and lows, the pair were sent one final and devastating blow.
The couple met when they were 11-years-old and at just 13, Jake told his crush that she was his “lobster”. The couple later dated for three years, deciding to go their separate ways when they went to university at 19.
But after keeping in touch for 10 years – by which time Jake was working as a doctor in Australia and Emmy a primary school teacher in London – the pair gave in to their lasting feelings for one another. They negotiated the time difference and spoke to each other on FaceTime daily, travelling back and forth across the world.
Writing on her blog Emmy said just six months later they were planning a life together back in the UK – “a life we had always dreamed of together was finally coming true,” she wrote. But weeks after booking a romantic trip to the Philippines in 2016, their story took a bitter twist. Having suffered months of painful bowel problems, Emmy was told she had thyroid cancer. And the day before they were due to travel, doctors confirmed it had spread to her spine, lungs, liver and bones. It was incurable.
Instead of dwelling on what could have been, the couple decided to make the most of every moment they had left together and fundraise to help other people.
On June 26th last year, Emmy and Jake embarked on a 2,000km tandem bike ride. The pair cycled from London to Copenhagen, via Bruges and Amsterdam, along the North Sea Cycle Route, raising money as possible for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
After an incredible fundraising journey, Emmy died on June 20 this year aged just 31.
Jake wrote on his Facebook page
“There isn’t a moment that passes when I don’t miss her. She was my north, my south, my east, my west. The reason I wanted to wake up every morning and be a better person. My co-captain on my bike. My best friend. My lobster. My wife. And truly my hero.”
To date this remarkable couple have raised over £142,000 for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.