EMMA Smith felt she "commando crawled" over the finish line of her chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma. "I was really emotional and so fatigued," Mrs Smith said. "You think about that moment non-stop for six months so to finally be there was incredible. "I used to call it the cocktail lounge and on the last day I made my favourite nurse wear a wig and sip fake Champagne with me - there was no way I was going without a bang. "She said 'I can't wait to see you on the street, but never show yourself in here again'." Mrs Smith, 32, who is in remission, said she is aware not every cancer patient is as lucky. She attended the Leukaemia Foundation's Light The Night fundraising walk for the first time last year, where blood cancer survivors carry white lanterns, people who've lost someone to blood cancer carry gold lanterns and those who want to show support carry blue lanterns. "It was really hard, I was looking at all the gold lanterns and thinking 'I survived and that person didn't. Why?' " she said. "Their new goal is to see zero lives lost to blood cancer by 2035 and I'd like to see that become a reality. We need funding for better research, which leads to better outcomes." Mrs Smith will lead the white lanterns at this year's October 11 event at Speers Point Park. "Connecting with other people in the same situation who 'just get it' is vital," she said. "I did not realise how prevalent blood cancers are in young people. "This is not something that happens to to one unlucky person, it affects more people than you think." Mrs Smith had recently returned from living abroad and was two months out from her wedding to partner Lincoln when she visited the doctor last February about a rash on her lower legs and shoulder pain. She was referred to a rheumatologist, who ordered an x-ray. She had a 12 centimetre tumour in front of her heart and received her diagnosis the day before her hen's party. She started fertility treatment while waiting for confirmation of her stage of cancer and whether she could have her March 24 wedding. "I told my doctors, 'I don't care if you have to wheel me down the aisle and I'm wearing a different white gown, I am going'. "I was going to marry my best friend and have my day, cancer was not going to take that from me." Mrs Smith started chemotherapy for stage two cancer a fortnight after her nuptials. Her husband accompanied her to every appointment, fortnightly for six months. She tried to stay positive and followed her doctor's advice that it was "okay to visit a sad place, just don't live there". She said being told she was in remission was like "someone pressed play on my life again". "I'm in awe of what my body has done for me. I couldn't walk up stairs this time last year, now I can dead lift 80 kilograms."