JOANNE Gladigau will marry her fiance Josh Colman at the Logan Village bush property she calls home on November 3.
She has picked a dress. She will wear boots and there will be country music.
Almost 200 family and friends will fly in from all over Australia to see the young couple say “I do”.
The wedding will be held at the property her mum Helen Gladigau calls Camp Crazy. No one wants to miss this event.
Joanne, 22, was diagnosed with the cancer squamous cell carcinoma – sunspots – in 2016. Hers do not grow on her skin, but beneath her face invading her sinus, right eye and roof of her mouth. She has lost an eye, upper mouth and cheek.
Mrs Gladigau is planning a wedding.
“Joanne may be terminal but she has taken this living thing by the horns,” she said.
“Joanne’s wedding is on November 3, 2018 (and) 175 people will join Joanne and Josh to help celebrate their special day. 70 people will be staying at our house so Camp Crazy will be in full swing.”
Mrs Gladigau is looking for seven caravans and if anyone has one, a large marquee.
“We are using smaller gazebos for the reception. I now wonder if one large one might be better. We have 175 people attending, 70 people staying,” she said.
Mrs Gladigau said the big blended Gladigau-Ryan family were like any other.
“We have mum dad, five kids and 16 grandbabies. We have a mortgage, pay bills, laugh, cry and fight like most. We have our fair share of crap along the way but on the whole, we did not think we had more or less issues than anyone else,” she said.
Mrs Gladigau said Joanne, her youngest, went to hospital with a swollen face and had a wisdom tooth lanced. A biopsy revealed the cancer.
Twelve days, later surgeons removed a tumour the size of a kiwi fruit.
“You ask yourself why. Joanne didn’t smoke, drink lots of alcohol … play near power lines of play outdoors in the sun …,” she said.
Mrs Gladigau said there had been dozens of surgeries, chemo, radiation, 472 days on a feeding tube Joanne called Harry and – for some months – remission. Josh proposed. Joanne said yes. She celebrated her 21st birthday with a Disney-themed party. Before the month ended, she was back in hospital.
Mrs Gladigau said she was grateful to the team at Princess Alexandra hospital who had been involved from the first surgery.
She remained in awe of her daughter and her wicked sense of humour through tough times as exhibited in Facebook posts.
These included how treatments had helped her shed kilos and how, in the words of one her doctors, scars that made it tough to move her mouth to speak or eat were the side effect of surviving.
If you can help, email Mrs Gladigau at muppet9@bigpond.net.au
