ALEX Lewis was determined to live his life to the fullest – an ambition fulfilled when he married his girlfriend Ali five days before his death.

Alex was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was 18 and tragically died when he was just 22.

But the heart-warming story of his relationship with Ali Strain, now 23, is to be shown next week in a film on the BBC.

Alex hoped filming his story would assist the campaign to raise money for research into bone cancer.

Oxfordshire documentary maker David Dugan – a fellow villager in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell – began filming his project about Alex the night the then 21-year-old met Ali.

Mr Dugan arrived to film as the young man was busily preparing to drive off to a party in Swansea.

What both could not have guessed was terminally-ill Alex would kiss a girl that night and fall in love in the most emotionally-charged circumstances imaginable. After that, Alex and Alison Strain became inseparable.

By September they were engaged and wed on Alex’s 22nd birthday in February.

He died five days after the ceremony in the village church, where he sang along to Fleetwood Mac, whose hits include Big Love.

Mr Dugan said: “It was just an amazing co-incidence that they met on the day that we started filming.

“She really gave him a new lease of life. It was incredible to witness. But there was a tragic aspect. Up until then Alex had been living each day as it came. Now he suddenly had a future to look forward to.”

Mr Dugan had known Alex and his family for more than two decades.

Alex was diagnosed while still a sixth former at Wallingford School.

Mr Dugan said: “The whole village knew and loved Alex. Over three years, he’d had intensive treatment and last summer it reached the stage where he was running out of options.

“You feel so helpless. I asked if there was anything I could do. And I realised the only way I could help was to ask the family if they would like me to make a film.”

Mr Dugan, whose science and history documentaries have won a string of awards including three Emmys, began filming in June 2010.

Alex’s parents Andy and Angela Lewis said it was a tough decision to allow the film. Mrs Lewis said: “When I saw documentaries on families, I would say ‘why do people do this?’ But Alex wanted to do it.

“The film has really done our son justice.

“A major reason behind Alex’s participation was to raise awareness of primary bone cancer and the excellent work of the Bone Cancer Research Trust.”

news@oxfordmail.co.uk Alex: A Life Fast Forward is being shown next Thursday, July 21, at 9pm on BBC3