Days before their honeymoon, Taylor was told his new wife was going to die. So, he didn't tell her.

What would you do if you'd just found out the love of your life was going to die, but it was simultaneously one of the happiest weeks she'd have? Would you tell her and burst the bubble to protect your honesty, or would you let her have her moment? 

This is the situation that newlywed husband Taylor Odlozil found himself in, and to this day, it is one of the hardest things he's ever had to do: find out about his wife's terminal cancer diagnosis before she did.

You see, just a few weeks before they were due to tie the knot in 2015, his partner Haley was diagnosed with Stage IIIC (3C) ovarian cancer. 

Speaking on TikTok stars Matt and Abby Howard's Unplanned podcast, he said she quickly underwent chemotherapy in the lead up to their wedding day. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Unplanned Podcast (@unplanned__podcast)

Three days after their ceremony, he was told by a doctor that the chemo had not been successful. 

"I could tell the doctor, when she was telling us how the chemo worked, it seemed like she wanted to say more but wasn't ready to say more," he said.

Taylor asked everyone to step out of the room so he could have a moment with the doctor, recalling, "That's when I found out, by myself."

It wasn't only that the chemo hadn't worked, but that there was no chance of recovery for his new wife. Haley was terminal, and she didn't have long. She was given a prognosis of about six months left to live. 

"So there we are, three days after I just married Haley, and I'm finding out that she's got just six months. Like, really? And I remember I just lost it. The doctor was just comforting me," he said.

Watch this video about improving the ovarian cancer survival rate here. Post continues below. 

Naturally, there was a lot of soul searching that followed. Why had this happened to them? How was he supposed to tell Haley? And should he even do it before they went on the trip of a lifetime: their honeymoon? 

It's a conundrum not many of us would ever even conceive of facing, let alone try to make sense of, then make a decision, and move forwards. 

Taylor told their cancer doctor that he didn't want to be the one to break the news, and the doctor suggested that they wait until after the honeymoon to address it. 

"I had to gather myself, go out into the waiting room and look at Haley in the face knowing that she's dying," he continued. "We go home and I walked her inside and I looked at her and said, 'Hey, I gotta go see my parents real quick.'"

By the time he got to his parents, the emotions were flowing out of him. 

"I was banging on the front door and my dad opens it, and I literally collapse in his arms, in the doorway, screaming, sobbing," he said. 

Soon, all of the parents were crying too as they realised that it was true: Haley was dying. 

Haley with Taylor and their son Weston. Image: Instagram.

It's an awful position to be in. To be keeping secrets from the one person you just promised your honesty and everlasting love to at the altar. But it was for her own happiness that he did it.

"My mom talks about that day, that she remembers that pretty vividly. I've never been that upset in my life. I was able to cry it out, talk with my parents, gather myself, go home, pack for Hawaii, go on that trip and try to make the best out of it."

As it turns out, Haley wasn't completely in the dark about her own health. Despite not being officially told of her terminal diagnosis, deep down she already knew.

"We were laying in the hammock ... and we were watching the sun go down and she looked at me and said, 'I just feel like this is our last trip,'" Taylor recalled.

"I looked away for a second and looked back and said, 'Why?'

"She said, 'I think you just know when you're dying.'"

Despite having to endure his trip with the foreboding omen of a terminal diagnosis, Haley was able to live that week without that spectre officially being confirmed.

In the end, Haley was able to live for longer than six months, and it wasn't her last trip before she passed in July 2023. They took a few more family holidays in those months, making memories to sustain them when she could no longer be there.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taylor Odlozil (@taylorodlozil)

Haley was just 30 when she passed away and their son Weston was only four-years-old. She never ceased to be a doting mother and loving wife.

When she passed, her family were all around her, and when she realised her time was near, they went to get her son Weston, Taylor told the Get Back podcast. 

"She regained enough consciousness to utter a few final words, "She said, 'I love you, son', and that was the last thing she ever said."

Since then, Taylor has thrown himself into being a single dad, and become a grief spokesperson across many podcasts. Even now he still has a testament to what would have been his eighth anniversary with Haley pinned to the top of his social media platforms. 

"I look back on my time with Haley and I know without a doubt that I gave everything. I had to make sure she was taken care of," it reads. "Because of that, I have no regrets. It was my honor to care for her."

Feature image: Instagram.