Yahoo Finance Man Dies by Wife's Side a Year After They Married in High School Following Terminal Cancer Diagnosis
Amy Phipps Photography Chase and Sadie Smith
Chase Smith — the Indianapolis man who married his high school sweetheart, Sadie (Mills) Smith, just days after learning he had three to five months to live due a rare type of cancer — has tragically died at the age of 19.
Chase died on Easter Sunday with his wife by his side at their Bargersville home, The Indianapolis Star reported.
"God gave Chase the strength to say his last words to me," Sadie told the outlet. "He said, 'I love you. Worry 0%.' "
"I whispered in his ear that everything was going to be okay and that he won this fight," she recalled. "I continued to reassure him that it was OK to let go and it was time for him to run into God's arms with no more pain and suffering."
Chase and Sadie Smith
Sadie said she told Chase, "I will try not to worry, and I love you so much," which prompted him to tell her not to worry as his final words.
"I kissed his face and never let go until he entered the gates of heaven and took his last breath," Sadie remembered. "I just know that he butterflied his way all the way to Jesus with no pain. I trust God's plan. I cannot wait to run and jump into his arms when we meet again."
Chase was first diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma when he was 12.
He married Sadie on April 29, 2020, just days after learning that the cancer — which typically occurs in bones or in the soft tissue around the bones, according to the Mayo Clinic — had returned and was given only three to five months to live.
RELATED VIDEO: High School Senior Marries Girlfriend After He's Given Months to Live
Chase and Sadie, who started dating six months earlier, wed on the driveway at the home of Sadie's parents in the exact spot where the couple had shared their first kiss, according to The Indianapolis Star.
"A lot of people do say, 'Oh they're getting married because he has a potential to pass away soon,' and that's not at all why we decided to get married. It was more of just a wake-up call that, 'Hey, God wants you two together,' " Chase told the outlet at the time.
"What was cool about that was whenever we were first talking about getting married, Chase brought it up and I already knew what he was gonna say," Sadie added. "So I interrupted him and said, 'No, I know the same thing.' So that was definitely a God thing that the time was right."
Chase's family, who had initially set up a GoFundMe to assist with medical expenses, now plan on donating remaining funds after medical bills and funeral costs "to several projects that were near and dear to Chase's heart," according to the page.
"May we all be #foreverChasestrong and live our lives to honor God and make Chase proud," the page read.
