Family’s thanks to North Devon for granting young bride’s final wedding wish

The people of North Devon have been thanked for helping to give a terminally ill young woman the wedding of her dreams just five weeks before she passed away.

On July 31 Skye Dear was able to marry her fiancé Cam Anderson at Sandy Cove near Combe Martin in style after the North Devon community stepped up to offer wedding services.

Skye, aged just 24, had been battling cancer for four years and the wedding was top of her wish list.

Above: Skye Dear and her family enjoy her perfect wedding at Sandy Cove Hotel in July. Credit: Alexandra Maxwell Photography

A GoFundMe appeal launched by the Suffolk family raised enough to pay for the venue and basics, but then dad Phil reached out on North Devon social media for wedding services such as photography, entertainment, beauticians or flowers – and was absolutely inundated with responses from people willing to help.

READ MORE: Dad’s thanks to ‘incredible’ North Devon for giving his terminally ill daughter the wedding of her dreams

Phil’s partner and Skye’s step mum contacted the North Devon Gazette a few days ago to share the sad news that Skye had passed away on Saturday, September 6.

She had gone into a hospice just three days before and had the opportunity to be surrounded by all her family, including her sisters Kelis, aged 20 and Sienna, 12, before passing peacefully on the Saturday morning with Phil and Jayde at her side.

Above: Skye Dear with dad Phil (left) and husband Cam plus her sisters, Jayde and family on her wedding day. Credit: Alexandra Maxwell Photography

As the Gazette covered the initial story in June, Jayde asked us if we could pass on the family’s grateful thanks to everyone in North Devon who had “made it the most perfect day for her.”

Jayde said: “A massive thank you to everyone - she had a brilliant day and it could not have gone any better for her.

“The day went perfectly, everything went smoothly, the venue are so good at it and we ended up having really good weather just as the ceremony started.

“Skye thoroughly enjoyed it, but was in bed by 8pm as she was in a bit of pain, but she did get to spend time with her family as well.

“We never could have done it without the help from all those who offered their services, so we wanted to take the time to say thank you to everyone.”

“The last piece of the puzzle was the saxophonist, who was amazing, he was so lovely. It had been her wish, but we did not tell Skye he was there until he started playing during the evening meal.”

Above: Skye and Cam at the Sandy Cove Hotel gazebo where they were married. 

The couple had their honeymoon in a lodge a short distance away from Sandy Cove and stayed for about a week.

Jayde said Skye had been doing okay once they returned home, but at her next hospital appointment she was given the bad news she could not have chemotherapy. Earlier in the summer doctors had already warned Skye and her family to ‘make the most of the next few weeks and months’.

Jayde continued: “She stayed stable for a couple of weeks and then she was declining quite rapidly. I ended up creating a rota for the family as she could not be left alone.

“She went into the hospice on a Wednesday and passed on the Saturday morning.

“I think after she was told she could not have chemo she chose quality over quantity – I am glad we did the wedding when we did. If it was any later it would not have been as good as it was.

“We would not have been able to do it without everyone and it was the one big thing she wanted to do.”

Skye’s terminal diagnosis of osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer, followed Phil and the family losing his wife Gem to a form of bone cancer in July 2017 and his mum Lynda passed away in November 2019 from a form of blood cancer.

On her own social media before the wedding, Skye said: “Cancer has stolen so much from me over the years… first my mum, then my nan and now it’s unfortunately getting the better of me - as much as I’m letting it anyway.

“It’s a strange thing to be told you’re dying when you don’t feel like you are. For a while I’ve prepared myself for this news, so much that I’ve hardly shed a tear in comparison to all else I’ve endured the past three years.

“I have two little sisters I think of every day, I’d go through it all again and again if it meant they were forever safe from this disease.

“My final wish would be to get to marry someone who’s been there for me every step of the way, every single day, without fail, I really don’t know where I’d be today or how I’d be feeling if I didn’t have him.”

Above: A picture montage of Skye and Cam’s wedding day. Credit: Alexandra Maxwell Photography

The Dear family would like to thank: Photographer Alexandra Maxwell and her father Richard, Sandy Cove Hotel, hair stylist Gracie Davis, florist Lily Lace Floral, Tilly Shepard for the wedding cake, Sunset Discos, Simon Ryder for the photo booth, violinist Rebecca Barrow, Tracy Taylor for the sweet cart, videographer Chelsea Richards of Socially Bespoke, Peppermint Grove Prints for the place names, Helen Tippetts for the bridesmaids’ makeup, Harriet Mullins for the flower arch, Yasmin James for the bride’s makeup and saxophonist Peter Bradshaw.