Mom with Stage 3 Cancer Was Scared to Get Her Latest Test Results. Then She Got Good News — and a Proposal! (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Kyra Edwards and Zechariah Harris.Photo:Kayla Duffey Photography

Kayla Duffey Photography

Kyra Edwards first developed a crush on Zechariah Harris when she was 14, but the stars didn’t align for them until decades later, when she was visiting their hometown in Indiana following a stretch of devastating health issues and heartbreaking loss.

Last December, they reconnected and fell in love — and just two days before Valentine’s Day this year, Edwards wound up having two very big things to celebrate. That day, the mother of three learned no cancer was detected in her body — and Harris proposed.

“It’s like a Hallmark movie,” says Edwards, a 47-year-old real estate broker who lives in Winder, Ga. “I’m so overwhelmingly happy to feel this type of love and with someone who’s been my friend for over 30 years. He’s truly my best friend.”

(L-R) Zechariah Harris and Kyra Edwards.Kayla Duffey Photography

Edwards was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in October 2023 and immediately began treatment.

By January, she was told she was having a very rare adverse reaction to the treatment causing cardiotoxicity. “I was told that I pretty much had no other options,” she says. “I should just go ahead and get my affairs in order.”

She sought out a second opinion atCity of Hope Cancer Center Atlanta, where doctors were able to treat her with a different form of the medication she needed to survive, which fortunately, her body was able to tolerate.

Kyra Edwards receiving chemotherapy infusion in Feb. 2024.Kyra Edwards

Kyra Edwards

Tragically, just after she completed her radiation and chemotherapy treatments, in August 2024, her husband Brad, whom she’d been married to for 19 years, was killed in a car accident. Their then-10-year-old son Blaine, was in the vehicle with him. Despite the car flipping eight times, he survived and was able to extricate himself and run to the road for help.

Months later, on Nov. 1, Edwards had surgery to remove her cancer, and her late husband’s mother moved in to help take care of her, Blaine and her 16-year-old daughter Parker Ann. (Kyra also helped raise her late husband’s now-21-year-old daughter Ally, from his previous marriage.)

In another heartbreaking turn, shortly after celebrating Blaine’s 11th birthday on Dec. 15 with the family, Brad’s mom unexpectedly died in her sleep.

Throughout all the heartache, one of her biggest cheerleaders on social media was the boy she had a crush on in high school: Harris.

The pair both grew up in Jeffersonville, Ind., and hung out in the same group of friends — and despite the fact that there was interest on both sides, they were never single at the same time.

Still, over the last 20 years, they kept up with each other on Facebook and “cheered each other on,” Edwards says.

But they didn’t really reconnect until December, when Edwards bought a home in her hometown, which she planned to turn into an Airbnb. After learning she was in town buying furniture for the property, Harris asked if she wanted to grab lunch or coffee with him on Dec. 28.

She was over-the-moon excited.

“My kids were laughing at me,” she says. “I was super excited and fangirling, like a 14 year old.”

They fell instantly in love. “He just felt like home,” she says. “He felt like home immediately from that first hug.”

yra Edwards with cancer treatment certificate in Nov. 2023.Kyra Edwards

When it came time to go to the hospital to get the results of her latest scans and tests on Wednesday, Feb. 12, Edwards admits she was nervous.

“I was so very scared because it could have gone either way,” she says.

But happily, there was no sign of the disease — and as she rang the bell at the hospital to celebrate, she turned around and saw that Harris was on one knee.

“I said that ‘I couldn’t think of a better place to start our new life at the place that gave her hers back.’ I asked her to marry me, and she said, ‘Yes,’ says Harris, 48, a retired US Army command sergeant major and business development director for Armag Corporation. “We know how precious and how short life can be. We don’t want to waste any more time. We want to get our life started.”

(L-R) Kyra Edwards and Zechariah Harris.Kayla Duffey Photography

Being able to share the moment with the care team responsible for saving her life was meaningful to the doctors and nurses themselves.

“I’m very happy for Kyra and Zechariah. Kyra has been through a challenging journey,” saysDr. Shahin ChowdhuryMedical Oncologist. “We see every day how important it is for cancer patients to have someone in their corner through the highs and lows, and Zechariah has supported her through it all. I wish them the happiest of futures on their road ahead.”

(Back Row) Zechariah Harris, Josh Hayes, Dr. Shahin Chowdhury, Sarah Denny (Front Row) Kyra Edwards, Mischelle Pike, Dara Treadwell.Kayla Duffey Photography

As for the happy couple, there’s no shortage of admiration between them.

Harris appreciates the way his bride-to-be has faced so much heartbreak, but still smiles. “When she talks you can just see the glow around her. It’s just amazing, it’s absolutely amazing,” he says.

Meanwhile, she loves the way he treats her and her children and the kindness, respect and love he showers on them.

“He can smile at me, and it’s like nothing else exists,” she says. “He just makes me feel so valued and so very loved like I’ve never felt in my entire life.”

source: people.com