Love in the Time of Cancer
A Chance Encounter
Lauren Aslanian was a 15-year-old sophomore at Sonora High when she felt a lump on her throat. Nick Meza was 17, a senior at Fullerton High, when he noticed his swollen neck. About 10 years ago, cancer diagnoses derailed their adolescent lives. But the darkest of times led them to each other. As they overcame blood cancers, their bodies, and their feelings for one another, strengthened.
A Proposal at CHOC
The Thursday before Christmas, Meza, now 28, proposed to Aslanian, 26, in room 539 of the Children’s Hospital of Orange County — in the same cancer ward where they met as teenagers. "I wanted to do the proposal where our journey started," Meza said. "This is where we met."
A Love Story
They met around June 2014. The film, "The Fault In Our Stars," had just come out. In it, a 16-year-old girl with cancer meets her 17-year-old crush in a support group. Aslanian and other teenage girls at CHOC were infatuated with the movie for obvious reasons.
After watching the movie, her friend Christine, another cancer patient, said she had fallen in love with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy down the hall on the fifth floor. They went looking for his room. "I’m 15, and she was 14," Aslanian said. "We’re doing teenage girl things, like walking around and knocking on all the doors in the unit looking for this boy."
A Second Chance
Aslanian was discharged from the hospital shortly afterward. She and Meza didn’t stay in touch. "After that first encounter, we exchanged phone numbers but didn’t keep in contact or see each other again," Meza said.
AYA and the Power of Community
When a teen or young adult is diagnosed with a pediatric type of cancer at CHOC, they get treatment from two types of oncology experts: one who specializes in their type of cancer and one who specializes in the needs of adolescents and young adults. That second person is often called a child life specialist.
In the cases of Aslanian and Meza, that child life specialist was Kara Noskoff. Around the time they were admitted, Noskoff was innovating one of the only child life programs in the country specially geared toward teens with cancer.
The Proposal
To this day, Aslanian and Meza remain involved with AYA. They serve as mentors to younger patients and help to shape the future of the support network. Meza proposed to Aslanian at an AYA holiday event. Noskoff played a key role in the proposal, shepherding Aslanian away from the AYA event to the fifth floor on the premise of her needing to meet a young cancer patient in Room 539 who — like Aslanian — aspired to become a nurse.
The Ring
The ring is one of a kind: a marquise cut diamond set on a band custom-designed by Meza. The band looks like two strands of DNA coming together, and it’s exactly 2.3 millimeters wide, representing the 23 pairs of chromosomes normally found in DNA.
Conclusion
Lauren Aslanian and Nick Meza’s love story is a testament to the power of community and the resilience of the human spirit. Despite the challenges they faced, they found each other and built a life together. Their proposal at CHOC is a reminder that even in the darkest of times, love can bloom.
FAQs
Q: How did Lauren and Nick meet?
A: Lauren and Nick met at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) when they were both undergoing cancer treatment.
Q: What type of cancer did they have?
A: Lauren had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Nick had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Q: How did they stay in touch after meeting?
A: They exchanged phone numbers but didn’t keep in contact or see each other again until they reconnected at an AYA event.
Q: What is AYA?
A: AYA stands for Adolescent and Young Adult cancer program at CHOC, which provides support and community for teens and young adults with cancer.
Q: Who proposed to whom?
A: Nick Meza proposed to Lauren Aslanian at an AYA holiday event.
