Would you marry someone who has cancer? She did

Bahar Mallah took a chance on love – a really big chance. The man she was falling for had cancer but for her, that wasn’t a deal breaker.

A Chicago Tribune story reveals how Mallah met the man who would become her husband: “When Nick Schmidt and Bahar Mallah were introduced, he told her he was sick. At a bar after an Illini game on a chilly night in October 2008, she asked him why he wasn’t drinking.

“Cancer, he explained. That was typically when such conversations ended. But Mallah stuck around long enough for him to ask whether he could buy her a drink instead. “ ‘I have cancer, but I’ll buy you a drink?’ ” Mallah recalled saying to him. “ ‘That’s your line? That’s a horrible, horrible line.’ ” We’ll let you read the whole story to learn what happens next.

Not everyone would make Mallah’s choice. This Cancer Survivors Network discussion board highlights some of the obstacles of dating with or after having cancer.