FORT WORTH -- April Ingram and Wesley White have a love story that starts with the strangest circumstances. They found each other after they were both diagnosed with leukemia, and now they're planning a life together.
The story starts on Valentine's Day in 2013, when April first noticed a problem.
"I had a severely painful portion in my leg," she said.
At the time, she was 30 years old and healthy, but the leg pain was so severe she decided to go to the hospital.
"The words I never expected," she recalled. "It looks like leukemia."
It was an aggressive and advanced form of leukemia. Her life changed in an instant, and she began treatment immediately.
"To have leukemia in your thirties is extremely rare," she said.
Rare, but at nearly the same time, Wesley got the same shocking news. He was also 30, owner of Fort Worth auto shop Injected Customs that rebuilds classic cars.
After experiencing severe abdominal pain, he went to the hospital and was diagnosed with leukemia.
"[The doctor] said maybe 4 mounts, if we don't do anything at all," he recalled.
To survive, they both needed transplants. April found a bone marrow match, and Wesley had a cutting-edge stem cell transplant at Baylor Transplant Institute in Dallas.
"They used the same stem cells from my mother that created me to save my life," Wesley said.
They were getting treatment at the same time in the same hospital.
"I remember seeing him clearly, and he remembers me because I had a blue wig on," said April.
Still, it took two more years for them to meet, at a Baylor Transplant Reunion of Survivors. April introduced herself, and Wesley asked for her number.
"I called her after I got back to the shop, and we've actually never been apart since," he said.
On a mountaintop in Colorado, he proposed, and they're planning a wedding in Fort Worth this March.
"Everybody told me, you'll find love when you least expect it," said Wesley. "I always thought that was bull, and then I met her!"
It's a perfect match, and unlikely love that they wouldn't trade for anything.
"After all the uncertainty, and now have a certain future, it really makes me humble," said Wesley.