“I tell Sandra, you’re going to have me until the very end.”

Clare and Sandra met in 2014, just when Sandra had been given the all clear from breast cancer. Then in 2018, the cancer came back, so the pair decided to get married. They talk about how terminal illness has made them closer and stronger as a couple.

They also talk about how Sandra is raising money for Marie Curie by giving away digital copies of her poetry collection, Most Women I Know. So far, the couple have raised over £7,000   and people all over the UK, including celebrities like Jon Snow, Leanne Best and John Cooper Clarke, have recorded her poems to help spread the word.

"Perhaps one of the hardest parts of living with terminal illness is not knowing when that truck of devastation and loss is going to hit you," shares Clare. "It's been coming at us for three years. It's like you're in the brace position for three years."

"How hard a journey it has been," says Sandra. "You couldn't get a harder journey for me and Clare, but at the same time there's so much love and beauty and power in it. It's an amazing journey too. It's almost magical."

"It's just all about love now because that's all we've got left."

"One thing that most people don't understand about terminal illness is that it's not just one diagnosis," explains Clare. "It's like a series of losses, the loss of your job, the loss of your identity. Loss of parts of your relationship. That's why it's a bit naff when people say, 'enjoy each moment'.

"As Sandra's partner, I feel I have an incredibly powerful role to play," she adds. "I tell Sandra, 'you're going to have me until the very end. You won't be left. You're going to be loved and looked after right until the very end,' and I think that's a beautiful thing to give someone. It's all you can give them. You can't say, 'I'll make this better or I'll take this away.'"

"Our relationship has changed since my diagnosis," says Sandra, "but it's just got stronger. I don't think I've become someone different or she's become someone different. We've had to have different roles."

Clare shares that she used to worry about little aspects of their relationship. "As soon as the diagnosis came, I just forgot about all of that," she reflects. "I realised even if we're not perfect, what we've got is beautiful. So what if we've had an argument? We love each other and that's all that matters.

"I don't think either of us has any regrets because we've had a beautiful three years together. It's just all about love now because that's all we've got left."

"As a partner you see everything – the highs and the lows."

"Sandra was first diagnosed with primary breast cancer in 2012 before I knew her," shares Clare. "She'd been given the all-clear by the time we met. But then it came back in 2018 and she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

"Sandra was an avid campaigner all her life. From the age of 13, she was running big campaigns. She set up LGBTQ+ youth groups. She was always doing amazing things for young people in Liverpool.

"After she was diagnosed and she left work, I think she felt like she'd lost all that. It's difficult as a partner because you see everything – the highs and the lows. People see pictures of Sandra on Facebook, and they'll message saying 'Sandra looks great, she's got a tan.' You might have been through a few really difficult weeks, but people don't see that."