'I went on a first date with my work crush only to find out I had cancer on the same day'
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A first date went in a completely new direction when colleagues Chloe and Josh Jackson got a call no one ever wants to receive - from the hospital asking Josh to come in urgently. After the couple, from Doncaster, met at the construction company they both worked at the time, their spark was undeniable. Occasional chats on snatched moments soon revealed that Josh had a pilot’s licence and Chloe had always wanted to join the RAF.
First meeting in February 2021, within a few months, Chloe and Josh began developing feelings for one another and in June that year, Josh asked Chloe on a date. But, as the big day approached, he started to feel increasingly unwell, with worsening night sweats, fatigue and some bruising.
Josh, 30, now managing director of the international branch of a Dutch railway company, said: "I’d recently moved house and it had a hot tub in the garden. I thought I’d developed an infection from the hot tub. But as the day went on, he got worse. Josh explained: "I’d woken up drenched with sweat. It actually looked like I’d wet the bed, it was that bad. So I rang the GP and told them what had happened, and they told me to come in for blood tests straight away that morning, which I did.”.
Josh, not feeling up to sitting up all evening in the formal setting of a restaurant, but not wanting to cancel their date, invited Chloe, 26, a commercial sales manager, over to his house for dinner. The couple were only a few hours in when the phone rang. Josh said: “I hadn’t been feeling very well that day. We were going on our first date and I didn’t feel up to going out for a meal.
