Heartbreak as mum dies from cancer hours before dream wedding to childhood sweetheart

Family confirmed that Hazel passed away earlier this morning

A dying mother has passed away moments before her dream wedding was set to start.

Hazel Jack, 42, had been fighting breast cancer for the last six years but was told by specialists at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital earlier this month that she had only weeks to live.

This news escalated Hazel's plans to marry her childhood sweetheart Jonathan Gauld, also 42, and friends took to Facebook to make their “gorgeous girl's dream wedding" happen.

Hazel Jack, 42, had been battling breast cancer for the last six years

Since then, help had been pouring in from across the country with people donating everything from transport to wedding dresses after her story appeared in the Evening News.

Family confirmed that Hazel passed away earlier this morning at her home in Biggar, just before her dying wish to be married could be granted.

Writing on Facebook, bridesmaid Gillian Anderson said: “Our beautiful Hazel has died this morning after her courageous battle with cancer.

“Thank you to everyone who has been there for Hazel, the family and friends and who have so generously donated to her dream wedding.”

Hazel’s fiance and their three-year-old son Darrach have decided to go ahead with the day's plan and use the wedding as an opportunity to celebrate the life of their “brave” mother and fiancee.

They have invited everyone who helped make Hazel’s special day possible to join them in a celebration of her life at nearby Cornhill Castle where the wedding was set to happen.

Speaking to the Evening News Gillian said: “Hazel wanted to make as many memories as possible so that is what we are going to do today.

“We are going to turn her dream wedding into a celebration of our gorgeous girl.”

She thanked everyone who has donated and said that the kindness of everyone involved meant a lot to Hazel in her last days.

She added: “I just wish everyone who has been touched by Hazel’s story, who wished us well and donated to the wedding could have met this beautiful soul and felt her warmth in the same way that we have for all these amazing years.”