You might expect during your 20s to plan a wedding or perhaps a baby shower. However, a life event that probably isn't on your radar is a funeral, which Shay Martin and Tanner Martin found themselves planning earlier this year—but with a twist. Tanner, 29, was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer in November 2020 that had spread to his liver at the time but has since progressed to his lungs too.
At first, he was given approximately two to five years to live, but as it spread significantly, the couple, from Utah, were told in March 2024 that he only has a matter of months left. "I always had a small hope that this would get cured," Tanner told . "That this experience would be something I shared with my kids in the future.
It's weird to think that I may never see my kids, that I might never have a career, and that I don't get to be a grandpa. Having to mourn the fact that I probably won't experience these things was hard. Without Shay, therapy and God, I don't know that I would have been able to cope.
" Knowing that Tanner's time was limited, the couple decided to celebrate his life with all their friends and family. They spent some time thinking about the most fitting way to commemorate, and in the end, they decided there was no better way than hosting a living funeral. They had already decided that they wanted to have a video montage recounting Tanner's life so Shay, 28, could show their children in the future.
But they didn't just want to wait until she uses the embryos.