Dad, 35, is told he has weeks to live on daughter's birthday

The fiancée of a loving dad who was given the devastating news that he has weeks to live on his daughter's first birthday says the couple are 'battling head on' as they prepare to marry.

Dean Whelan, from Golcar in Yorkshire, was diagnosed with terminal cancer on August 6. The earth-shattering news was compounded when medics told Dean and his long-term partner, Emily Whelan, that he had just weeks left to live.

The couple received the diagnosis on their daughter Lorelai's first birthday. Dean, 35, instantly made the decision to propose to Emily.

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Speaking to Yorkshire Live, Emily described Dean as a 'gentle giant' who is 'friends with everyone'. "He is a big lad so some people can be a bit wary of him but he is so soft-centred," she said.

The 34-year-old said there had been 'no signs at all' of Dean's illness before the couple attended the Hela Mega Tour in Huddersfield almost two months ago. "He got a pain in his back and it would not go away," said Emily. "They did a CT scan at the hospital and found that he had a blood clot on his lung.

"The pain got worse and they eventually found a mass on his bowel. They did more tests and it came back that it had spread and that they could not do anything." Dean and Emily were told the 35-year-old dad had just weeks left to live.

"We shut that down," said Emily. "That was enough for us. We want to have months and we are battling it head on."

Dean, who is now undergoing rounds of chemotherapy as a way of managing the cancer, proposed to Emily later the same day and the couple are hopeful they will be given a date for the wedding on Wednesday (August 17). "We should have been going to