A woman has been left heartbroken after her 28-year-old wife was diagnosed with breast cancer - just months after their honeymoon.

Childhood sweethearts Adele and Tara Ahmed, from Westgate-on-Sea, met at secondary school, keeping their relationship secret for years before eventually tying the knot.

This summer they went on holiday to Rhodes to celebrate their marriage.

But last month Tara found a lump while checking her breasts - and is due to start chemotherapy tomorrow(Friday).

Doctors told her she had stage one, grade three breast cancer, meaning it is the most likely form to spread.

Devastated Adele told KentOnline the news was "heartbreaking", with the couple also worried about how they are now going to afford to pay bills and rent.

She described how she and Tara became close friends at school in 2007.

"Further down the line, we started to realise it was a bit more than that," said Adele.

"We thought we were hiding it, but there was obviously something going on.

"Because we were young, even we didn’t really know what we were at the time.

"Then it blossomed. Tara is obsessed with Disney so I took her to Disneyland in 2019 and proposed to her."

The pair, who live together on the seafront, kept their relationship under wraps for a long time, fearing judgment from friends, family and the outside world.

"We didn’t really tell anyone up until like literally six months before our wedding." said Adele.

"We kept it to ourselves because we thought we wouldn’t be accepted. You see it all the time - family or friends judging."

So it was a "big weight off their shoulders" when their families welcomed the couple with open arms, and in January 2020 they married in a small ceremony.

"We were so lucky! We all know what came a couple months later," Adele joked.

"We were due to go to Greece that June but it got cancelled obviously, so we waited till this year and finally got to go to Rhodes."

Just a couple of months later, Tara got her diagnosis.

"I check myself regularly and just over a month ago, I found a lump that I wasn’t happy with because it was quite hard. So I went straight to the doctors," she said.

"The following week I had a mammogram and a biopsy, then a week after that I was told I had breast cancer.

"When I found out I thought about losing my hair and what stage the cancer was going to be, and if I was going to die."

Tara's cancer is triple negative, meaning if it gets any worse, it will be very high-risk. As a result it will be treated with aggressive rounds of chemo.

She has also been offered a new drug, called Pembrolizumab, which is administered by a slow injection into the vein.

The diagnosis brings back distressing memories for Tara, who lost her mum to bowel cancer three years ago.

"It is awful timing. You lose your mum to cancer and then you get it," she said.

With Tara now unable to work, the couple are worried about how they will afford to pay rent. The application process for financial support could take three months, and that's if they are eligible.

Adele is dreading having to work long hours in her job as a team leader for challenging behaviour in autism to make ends meet.

"The sad reality is we do need two incomes to pay for our flat, bills and just living really..."

"I want to be home as well to look after her - I don’t want to be at work 24/7," said Adele.

"That’s not what I want to be focusing on but the sad reality is we do need two incomes to pay for our flat, bills and just living really."

She worries that due to her making an income, they won't be entitled to financial benefits.

"It’s very hard, I come to work, I’m not in the right frame of mind, and then I’m going into a high-pressure environment. It’s a lot of stress," she said.

Tara, a team leader in a care home, qualifies for statutory sick pay from work, adding: "It's about £94 a week but I can’t live off that with our rent."

"Men and women should check their breasts and bodies regularly..."

The couple have started a GoFundMe page and are "really grateful" to have already received £500.

Tara checks her breasts at least once a month, and as a result, caught the cancer early. She wants to encourage others to do the same.

She said: "Men and women should check their breasts and bodies regularly, whether that's in the shower or while you're getting dressed for the day. I really preach that."