When a Wheatley woman was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis she told her partner to leave her for his own sake -- but a year later he proposed in a pub crowded with her friends and family.

Lisa Honey, 33, of The Avenue, couldn't speak as tears rolled down her face when her partner of four years Carl Henry dropped to one knee, at The Bull pub in Great Milton, on Saturday, April 16.

For the past year she has been suffering the onset of Multiple Sclerosis and her husband-to-be has given up work to care for her.

She had just raised £3,332 for the MS Society by organising a charity auction at the pub that night.

She said: "It was an amazing night. I was completely surprised when Carl proposed. I was just so happy."

Mr Henry, 32, said: "I met Lisa and fell in love with her, then for the first six months after she was diagnosed she kept telling me to leave her.

"It was terrible. My mum has had MS for years and is quite bad. Just after we visited her, Lisa was diagnosed.

"Last year was awful. Lisa had two relapses in the space of a month. I gave up work to care for her and I was going through the courts to see my son.

"It has bought us so much closer together. We have both come to terms with what it means and I realised I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Lisa.

"My proposal came from the heart, I thought if we can get through last year we can get through anything."

He added: "I couldn't wait to propose, I was very nervous on the night, everyone knew except Lisa. I gave her a bunch of flowers but I couldn't get my words out so I got the ring out.

"It was only when I went down on one knee that Lisa realised what was going on. She didn't say anything but there were lots of tears. I knew she would say yes from her face."

Ms Honey and Mr Henry have a two-year-old daughter named Venus. Ms Honey, who used to work for Tesco, also has a nine-year-old son Dior, who lives with the couple, and Mr Henry, a former caretaker, has a five-year-old son Lewis.

Multiple sclerosis is a condition affecting the central nervous system. It is the most common disabling neurological disease among young adults and affects around 85,000 people in the UK.

When Ms Honey was first diagnosed she couldn't walk properly, had lost sight in one eye and suffered from fatigue.

She said: "I was feeling very miserable, I couldn't work or do even the simplest things.

"But I could sit at a computer and use e-mail and write letters to organise the auction.

"My mum drove me to different companies so I could talk to people in person. The donations just started rolling in."

She added: "I just have to keep on going. I hope they find a cure."

The couple plan to wed next May.

For more information about MS see www.mssociety.org.uk