A DYING mother of two who married her partner in a cancer ward is defying her illness and continuing to "hang on in there", say her family.
Danielle Davies, 30, was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour in April last year.
In March this year, she captured the hearts of Mail readers when she married her partner, Mark, at the Queen's Centre for Oncology and Haematology in Cottingham.
Prior to the wedding, doctors told Mrs Davies she had just a few weeks left to live.
More than three months on from the day – described by Mr Davies as the "happiest in his life" – his wife is bravely clinging on to life.
Mr Davies, of Hessle Road, west Hull, said: "Danielle wants to fight to the end. She is being very brave.
"The staff have been fantastic."
Ward staff decorated a dayroom with rose petals and a wedding arch for the ceremony, which was attended by a handful of the couple's closest family and friends.
Mr Davies, 34, a fish merchant labourer who met his wife in November 2011, said: "I look at the wedding photographs quite often.
"I get quite tearful looking at them, but she's still here and we are getting through it. Danielle is still fighting."
The couple's youngest son, 14-month-old Lewis, knows little of his mother's plight.
But their eldest, Matthew, ten, is fully aware.
"He knows what is happening," said Mr Davies. "It is hard on him.
"Danielle gets very tired now. She is spending a lot of time sleeping.
"She has been getting a lot of numbness this past week. Everyone is doing what they can for her."
Mrs Davies was too unwell to talk to the Mail.
Speaking to us shortly before her wedding, she said of her children: "I love them both so very much.
"There is no best way of telling a ten-year-old boy what is going to happen to his mum.
"I sat him down and explained, as best as I could, that I had a brain tumour and I was not going to get better.
"Matthew got up and ran out of the room. But he came back. He told me, 'I am going to look after you, mum'.
"He is really determined now."
On Wednesday, the family will attend a fundraiser at Ritz Showbar and Function Suite in Holderness Road, east Hull.
In April, a fundraiser featuring local singing acts was held at the venue.
Money raised from the latest event will go towards a family break for Mr Davies and the children.
"It's fantastic what people have done for us," he said. "I would like to thank everyone."
