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Brave teacher finally makes it down the aisle after a motor crash and cancer

Mary Strutt from Dundee
Mary Strutt from Dundee

Brave Mary Strutt, 25, had been looking forward to marrying her fiancé Daniele Gelfi when she was struck by the lorry while cycling to work in Italy in 2011.

The wedding had to be delayed after she suffered a broken pelvis, multiple fractures, broken vertebrae and a punctured intestine.

She fought back to health and again made plans to marry her Italian fiancé.

However, her plans were thrown into disarray for a second time last February when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Luckily she noticed the lentil-sized tumour early and visited her doctor straight away, which increased her chances of survival.

The tumour has since been removed and Mary is now in remission, allowing the couple to finalise plans for their long-awaited wedding.

Mary, originally of Strathmiglo in Fife, said: “I feel that my life has been saved twice.

“After having survived an accident like that I somehow managed to find a lump the size of a lentil.

“Life has a whole new value when these things happen. We just want to enjoy life to the full while we have it.”

Doctors feared Mary, who moved to Italy in 2007, might die from her injuries when she was rushed to hospital following the crash in May 2011.

Italian authorities provide no financial support for accident victims which meant she had to enlist the help of friends and family to raise around £7,000 for her healthcare.

Daniele also had to give up work to care for her.

The trauma of the accident and the huge bills they faced threw their wedding plans up in the air.

Life was just getting back to normal when she noticed a lump in her breast in February last year.

Mary said: “I was very lucky to receive a biopsy. Usually they don’t give them to girls my age.

“My doctor was horrified when the results came back.”

The lump was removed and doctors advised Mary she should undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as hormone therapy.

However, while Mary was willing to do hormone therapy she decided against other treatments.

She also chose to adopt a plant-based diet which involves, among other things, drinking over a litre of carrot juice a day. She also eliminated sugar and alcohol from her diet.

Mary said she’s drunk so much carrot juice her skin has temporarily taken on an orange tint.

The couple’s wedding is set for June of next year and will be held in the hills of Bergamo, north of Milan.

Mary can’t wait. She said: “Our wedding will be just us, our families and close friends.

“Now the plan is to be as healthy as I can be, and just have a great life.”


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