It is rare to find two people who truly understand one another; someone to call a partner in the crime called life. It may take four years, or it may take four decades. For Ryan Vanshur and Cecilia Medeiros Vanshur, it took four months.
Medeiros Vanshur, an international business senior originally from Brazil, met Vanshur last semester during her transfer orientation for international business majors where he spoke as president of the International Business Society. The story he shared inspired her — he was a cancer survivor who just completed his final treatment of chemotherapy the previous month.
“He was becoming a very influential student on campus,” Medeiros Vanshur said. “I just got here and was eager to get myself more involved, so I talked to him after the meeting.”
Four months later, Vanshur and Medeiros Vanshur were walking on the beach, watching the sunrise on New Year’s Day when he asked her to be his partner for life.
Vanshur didn’t have a ring at the time. Instead, he wanted Medeiros Vanshur to choose her own. On Valentine’s Day Vanshur proposed to Medeiros Vanshur in Alforon, her favorite Lebanese restaurant.
“We’re both kind of involved in a lot of things, and all of our goals lined up in terms of short term and long term,” Vanshur said. “The attraction was there. Plus, she’s smarter than I am.”
It’s a rare combination that is hard to resist, Vanshur said. “It’s a triple threat,” he added.
Vanshur said that Medeiros Vanshur once mentioned that she wanted to take his last name, and on Feb. 28, the two exchanged their vows to each other.
Vanshur was diagnosed with non-Hodgskin’s lymphoma in 2012 and was told that he had a 30 percent chance of living. However, he is now 29 years old and has started his own company that develops higher education software program called Course Key.
“He doesn’t like to wait to do things,” Medeiros Vanshur said. “If he feels like its something he wants, he goes for it.”
The 22-year-old said she has never met anyone like Vanshur.
“We have common goals, similar lifestyles and he’s really mature. I’ve never met anyone that gets me the way he does,” she said.
“I remember the day she told me that I was the only person that got her,” Vanshur said. “I knew what she meant because she was just as stressed out as I was, but she loved it as much as I did.”
To Medeiros Vanshur, their relationship is a reciprocal partnership that benefits the both of them.
“We say it all the time: life itself is hard enough and we help each other make life a little easier,” Medeiros Vanshur said. “That’s kind of our thing. When we have any discussion, we stop to think about it. Is this going to matter a year from now? Are we helping each other be a better person on our own and as a couple?”
“The thing is, he gives me a lot,” said Medeiros Vanshur. “He helps me and teaches me. But I train him at the gym and we work out together.”
Vanshur has said his health has improved since he met Medeiros Vanshur, which is important to them because of Vanshur’s illness.
Both Medeiros Vanshur and Vanshur are full-time students and actively pursuing their career goals. The couple barely has the time to go on dates. Instead, the couple shows their appreciation for each other through the little things, Vanshur said.
About a month and a half ago, Medeiros Vanshur had called Vanshur to leave her some quarters at their shared apartment for laundry.
“I was planning to clean that day,” Medeiros Vanshur said. “I get home and the entire house was clean — from the floor to the bathroom, to the kitchen and the bedroom. And he had done all the laundry, which was about three or four loads, folded everything, put everything away. He got home later, and he brought dinner and dessert. I’ve never had a person that cares so much about the little stuff.”
Vanshur has not met Medeiros Vanshur’s parents, who live in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, but he wrote a letter to them in English, which Medeiros Vanshur translated to Portuguese.
However, for Medeiros Vanshur, meeting Vanshur’s family was a special experience.
“When I met them, we had Sunday lunch,” Medeiros Vanshur said. “It felt like family to me. And I’ve never had that before ever since I got here. His parents are Mexican, and his mum would call me mija.”
“It’s a little closer to my values,” she added.
“(Our story) is just one of those stories where you can’t really explain,” Medeiros Vanshur sad. “You just know that we were meant for each other.”
