Love and Cancer at 27

Allen Chou was just 27 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. His girlfriend, Linda Sim, was 25.

We usually think of death and dying as problems for the elderly. Usually, when a couple needs to make decisions about how to spend their last days together, they are late in life and can look back on decades of memories.

Allen and Linda had only been together for a few years, and though they weren’t kids anymore, they were both young at heart. Linda keeps a video of him singing and dancing to Justin Bieber. When they saw a preview for The Fault in Our Stars, a film about two young people with cancer, Linda saw herself and Allen in the characters.

“I was like, oh my God,” Linda says. “It just reminds me so much of our journey together.”

It wasn’t long before Allen’s doctor gave them terrible news: He had only weeks to live. Linda climbed into his hospital bed, and they made a decision about how to spend the time they had left together.

“I was hoping for a miracle, but … you have to be rational,” she said.

You can see what they decided to do in the digital film below.

And to hear more from Allen and Linda’s story, including an interview with his doctor and nurse, listen to the podcast below.