This story comes from Crystal Brown-Tatum of Houston, Texas.

In 1990, I met my now husband at The University of Houston. We were freshmen and lived on campus in the dormitories. We were casual friends and always said hello but nothing more. After the first year, Phil left to pursue a baseball career in California and the subsequent year, I got pregnant and became a single mom.

We never communicated over the next 15 years at all but Phil said he always thought about me. I had no idea that I was the girl of his dreams. In 2006, I was selected as a Bachelorette of the Year by Ebony magazine. There was a small write up on the University web site.

Phil was watching a baseball game at home in Louisiana one afternoon and during a commercial break decided to get on the UH web site. He says he doesn’t know what persuaded him to get on the UH site but he felt compelled to. He saw the write up on me and sent me an email to which I quickly responded. We started emailing frequently and since I lived 4 hours away, we decided to meet in a small town one weekend and see each other. It was during that weekend that I felt a small marble sized lump in my armpit and mentioned it to him. We dismissed it off as a swollen gland.

After dating 6 months, we got engaged and I relocated to Shreveport. Phil is in the Army and stationed here. That lump in my armpit continued to grow and Phil urged me to go to a Dr. Within 96 hours, I was diagnosed with stage IIIA breast cancer. Needless to say, I was devastated. I underwent surgery, chemo and radiation and two years later, there is no detectable cancer in my body. I am thankful that Phil urged me to see a Dr. but I do feel that destiny brought us together again because if he had not been in my life, the cancer would have metastasized and I probably would not be alive today.

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