The first wedding on the 10th season of Married at First Sight has confirmed a fairytale connection between accountant Lyndall Grace, 27, and carpenter Cameron Woods, 27.
Lyndall has cystic fibrosis (CF), but now thanks to a new ‘miracle’ drug, her life expectancy has dramatically improved, meaning she has a long marriage and even children to look forward to.
The newlyweds’ sweet bond was deepened when Lyndall shared her condition with her husband, Cameron, who told her he had lost a friend to the disease, so understood immediately.
How does it feel to be part of such a huge show?
It’s crazy because I wouldn’t have even gotten on a plane a year ago because of COVID. Now, not only do I get the opportunity to meet someone amazing, but I also get to experience all these things that I never thought I would. The whole thing’s pretty wild given my circumstances.
How do you hope people feel about you on TV?
I’m hopeful people are moved by my story, but also that it gives some understanding into people who live with any kind of chronic illness. I would hope that people see me for more than just my CF and for all the things it’s given me, like resilience and strength. I hope people think about how life is short and how we all deserve to be happy.
On-screen, you and Cameron instantly connected. Is that how it felt to you?
Everything felt so natural, lovely and warm between Cam and I. You don’t normally feel that when you first meet someone, so the fact our bond was already there was incredible. I felt really safe with him. When you walk down the aisle and you don’t know who’s going to be there, that moment of just looking at another person and saying, “We’re about to do this crazy thing on TV, but we’ve got this,” that makes you feel secure. That’s how I felt with Cam anyway. Comfortable. And that’s incredible.
How scared were you to reveal your condition to Cameron?
My condition, it makes things complicated. It’s hard because there aren’t a lot of people that know much about it. Sometimes it’s amazing when someone knows about CF already, like Cam did, but sometimes it’s really bad. Mine was kind of this sad story before, but now I can talk about it more openly because it has a lot of positivity thanks to my new drug regimen. There’s a happy ending for me. It’s amazing not to have to explain it to somebody. You just worry straight away that they’ve got this really negative view of a partner who has a chronic illness.
What does an average day look like for you now that your life span has dramatically increased?
I work in an office, type away on my computer. My favourite place to be is home with my three housemates. They’re my best friends and we cook dinner together, listen to music, play video games. On weekends we’re putting our skates on and playing roller hockey. Hockey is incredible, we had our grand final event recently. I have never found a more welcoming and fun community to be in. I love hockey!
Do you have advice for anyone with a chronic illness who’s looking for love?
Reach out to other people in your community. That was the biggest change that I made. It made it feel more normal to talk about it and less like I was the only person in the world that could ever understand what it was like to live with CF and want to find love. That made me more confident to talk about it or ask for help when I needed it. I’m allowed to have feelings around it, it’s not something to hide. I’ve only thought about it recently, but I now realise that I do deserve to be in a relationship and to be loved by someone completely. Before, I talked myself out of that. I didn’t think love or marriage was for me, but now that I’ve taken this chance with Cam, I already know I’m glad I took a chance on MAFS. Love is worth it!
Married At First Sight Australia airs Monday to Wednesday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network and 9Now.
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