North Texas couple celebrates anniversary of love and remission

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A North Texas couple will celebrate their third wedding anniversary this Valentine’s Day, in love and in remission.

Shelby and Caleb Collins first crossed paths at a summer camp for kids battling cancer.

Shelby was diagnosed with leukemia on the last day of second grade.

Shelby and Caleb Collins

“My dad sat me on his lap and said, ‘Hey, you’re sick and we’re going to the hospital and we’re not leaving until you get better,'” she said. “It was a very hard day.”

During Camp Sanguinity’s treatment, the camp for children treated at Cook Children’s for cancer and blood disorders became a refuge.

“This is a week to escape reality and feel normal, get busy, find independence,” Shelby said.

It was also where she first met Caleb in 2009.

When Caleb was 10 years old, what his doctors first thought was a baseball injury turned out to be bone cancer.

“It was hard,” Caleb said. “It was scary.”

He said that Camp Sanguinity was also a place where he could have fun and meet other kids going through similar experiences.

Caleb and Shelby parted ways at the end of that week, but reunited years later when they were asked to return to camp as teen leaders.

They created an instant connection.

“So we were very, very good friends and I think I asked her, ‘Hey, are you really going to be my girlfriend? I’d like to give it a title,” Caleb said. “She said no.”

Eventually, she came to her senses. They dated for several years before getting married on Valentine’s Day 2020.

“I told him, ‘There’s no excuse for you if you ever forget our anniversary,'” Shelby said.

They knew they wanted to increase their family but expected it to be difficult to conceive.

“Given all my chemo and everything she went through, it should have been next to impossible,” Caleb said.

But even before they went to their first fertility appointment, they found out that Shelby was pregnant. Their son Graham is now 18 months old.

Shelby and Caleb Collins

“When promoting miracles, we can say, ‘Hey, we have a baby. By the grace of God, everything is possible,” she said. “There was a moment when I didn’t know, my parents didn’t know if I would live to get my driver’s license or until prom. So these important milestones that are normal for everyone else, our families really understood and it just made me realize how precious life is.”

Shelby and Caleb hope their story will inspire Graham to never give up and look for the light even in his darkest days.

They served as counselors at Camp Sanguinity for four years and plan to return.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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