When Zoe Sumner Welch applied to be on a television show, a bit of fun soon turned into so much more…
WORDS: ASHLEIGH PAGE. PHOTOS: C4
I really never expected to find love when I filled in an online application for a reality TV show. I just thought it would be a bit of fun, and at the very least, a memorable experience. It was December 2019 and after sharing a few bottles of wine with some work colleagues after my job staff training at a bank, they jokingly suggested I apply for C4’s First Dates. At 29, I’d never been in a relationship before and had never even been on a date. But a few months later, I found myself in a restaurant in Manchester, sat opposite a man I’d never met, with cameras all around us. As far as first dates went, I knew mine, whatever the outcome, would definitely be a memorable one.
Mike Sumner, then 36, like me, had applied for the show on a whim, as a bit of fun. He had the brightest blue eyes, a friendly smile and was very smartly dressed. He was easy to talk to, I almost forgot about the cameras filming us and I knew straight away that I wanted to get to know him more. It wasn’t love at first sight, but there was definitely a connection between us. And when I showed him my party trick – downing a whole pint of beer in seconds – he was so impressed he swore loudly. And I liked him even more.
Chatting constantly, Mike told me about his Asperger’s diagnosis, and how it gave him incredible memory and hearing, and about his love of the film Back to the Future. We finished dinner, did our final bits of filming and then escaped to the nearest pub together. Chatting more freely without the cameras, we agreed to meet up again a week later in Sheffield. But after our next meeting the world was thrust into lockdown thanks to the pandemic. We took to swapping hundreds of WhatsApp messages, phone calls and even making silly quizzes to play over video calls.
Lockdown chatting
Despite being a difficult way to start a relationship, it gave us the opportunity to really get to know each other. Mike confided in me about some muscle weakness he was experiencing. He was worried, but I tried my best to reassure him.
Then in November 2020, Mike messaged to ask if he could call me. I knew he’d been back and forth a couple of times to the hospital so I braced myself for bad news. And I was right. Mike had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), a rare condition that progressively damages parts of the nervous system. He could lose his ability to walk, to talk and even to eat. But that wasn’t all. MND could affect his life expectancy, but he
