UK sweethearts Jake Coates and Emmy Collett met when they were just 11 years old. They dated for years, drifted apart while at university and reunited when Emmy was teaching in London and Jake was working as a doctor in Sydney.
Speaking to the Daily Mail last year, Emmy explained her affection for Luke blossomed at an early age.
“My ‘school girl crush’ on Jake started almost 20 years ago when we were just 11 years old,” she said.
“We quickly became ‘childhood sweethearts’ and at 13 he told me that I was ‘his lobster’”
In 2016, after dating long-distance, the pair received the devastating news that Emmy had thyroid cancer, 7 News reports. The couple were set to embark on a holiday to the Philippines—where Jake planned to propose. With Emmy too sick to travel, Jake proposed over a cup of tea in bed.
Emmy’s cancer spread to her spine, lung and bones. The pair tied the knot in September last year, but Emmy sadly lost her battle with cancer just months later, in June. She was just 31-years-old.
To mark their first wedding anniversary, Jake posted a heartbreaking tribune to his wife on Facebook on September 2.
“This time a year ago I couldn’t sleep. I was way too excited that I was going to get to marry this girl, the love of my life, in the morning,” he wrote.
“There wasn’t a day that went by when we were together that I didn’t pinch myself – why someone like you would choose someone like me. But I’ll forever be grateful that you did.”
He signed off the post: “We made the best team. Miss you more than ever my gorgeous girl.”
You can donate to Emmy and Jake’s Just Giving page that is raising funds for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity here.
