Lauren and Nick: A CHOC Love Story
Ten years ago, Lauren and Nick’s lives were forever changed by cancer. Both were being treated at CHOC when they met through a program geared for teens with cancer.
This program, now known as The Richard C. and Virginia A. Hunsaker Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology Child Life Program, allowed them to reconnect and helped blossom a relationship.
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“Lauren and Nick: A CHOC Love Story” Transcript
Lauren: I think I started laughing. My jaw dropped.
Nick: You started giggling and crying.
Lauren: And then I was like, “Oh, this makes sense.”
Lauren: We met here on the 5th floor at CHOC and I was with a friend of mine who was also going through treatment. We were just trying to be teenage girls. Walk around. Meet people. Be social. So we were knocking on people’s doors and we knocked on Nick’s door.
Nick: We weren’t really thinking about a relationship or anything. We were just teenagers trying to survive.
Lauren: We talked for a bit and went back to our respective rooms and really didn’t connect again until one of our cancer events. AYA is the adolescent and young adult oncology program. A place to be together and be with people who understand. We have a really great program and I’m very grateful to be a part of it.
Nick: We love being a part of the community. It’s family.
Lauren: CHOC really does it in a special way.
Nick: We got a lot closer at the events.
Lauren: We get each other in a way that other people don’t. No words need to be said. There’s just a feeling that’s a mutual understanding between us.
Nick: I don’t know exactly when that feeling came about, but I’ve known for a while that I wanted to marry her. I knew that I wanted to propose in a place that was very special to us. I thought that going back to where it all started, the oncology floor where we first met. During one of our AYA events and this was the perfect cover. It worked. She opened the door.
Lauren: And I just had my eyes down and the first thing I saw on the floor in the room was there was no bed. Then I finally looked up and I was like, “Oh!” That’s when my jaw dropped. I was really proud of him for pulling off the surprise and also just really emotional. You know, neither of us knew that this would ever be in the cards in the future. We didn’t know we would be here to experience this kind of thing. It’s the culmination of all of the emotions. It made for a really special day for us and why would it be anywhere else? It really just makes the most sense for it to have happened here.