Couple wedding gift to fight against cancer

Jane Emerick
A young Geelong couple has turned down wedding presents to help fight cancer.
Alissa Martin and Michael Bellears asked guests at their wedding in Geelong on the weekend to donate to cancer research instead of buying presents.
The wedding raised $3000 for Cancer Council Victoria.
Ms Martin dedicated her wedding to the fight against cancer after watching the disease cut down many family members.
Both her parents died from the disease, along with a grandmother, a grandfather, her stepmother, a brother, a cousin and the sister of a grandparent. Ms Martin’s father died of lung cancer two weeks before the wedding.
She said using her wedding day to help fight the disease was “the natural thing to do”.
“Accepting something like a television would have seemed like such a waste,” she said.
“Aiding cancer research and helping early detection of the disease is what we wanted to do. My husband’s nan also died of cancer and he was really supportive of the idea.”
Ms Martin said her father had been aware the wedding would be a cancer fundraiser.
“We thought dad would make it to the day but I think he would have been proud with how it all turned out,” she said.
“I think he was there and he liked it.”
Ms Martin started learning about the fight against cancer after watching family succumb to the disease.
“I realised the research being done had made significant headway but more was needed to be done,” she said.
Ms Martin, now living in Queensland with her husband, urged other couples to consider turning their weddings into cancer fundraisers.