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WOODLAND PARK, COLO. -- A trip to the circus proved to be extra special for one woman when her boyfriend popped the question in the center ring.

Phillip Wood and Hope Glade have been through a lot together. They met in high school but lost touch after graduation.

Phillip always loved Hope but didn't have the courage to tell her until he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) about a year ago. He also was diagnosed with Philadelphia Chromosome, which makes his otherwise curable ALL deadly.

"I was divorced, I had just been told I had leukemia, and I was lonely," Phillip said.

So he reached out to his high school sweetheart Hope.

"She's gone through my mind my whole life. You don't forget someone like Hope, and I guess when all else failed, I looked for Hope," he said.

Hope said she was shocked to hear from Phillip, but the two quickly reconnected.

"It was like 30 years hadn't even gone by. It was really great," she said.

"I wrote to her and I said 'I think you might be someone I loved a long time ago,' and she wrote me back. I drove up there two days later to see her, and we've together ever since," Phillip said.

In 2011 the couple moved to Woodland Park so Phillip could receive a bone marrow transplant.

"We had to sell everything we had to come out here for the bone marrow transplant. It's just too expensive to move everything, and after all that she stayed with me. I love her," Phillip said.

Thursday Phillip took Hope to the circus, a place of magic, wonder and the unexpected.

Then halfway through the show, the unexpected happened.

Phillip dropped to one knee in the center ring and asked Hope to marry him.

"She said yes!" Phillip said.

"I'm still in shock, I never expected this," Hope said. "I knew he was up to something, I just didn't know, because he was really, really, really excited about the circus."

Phillip is currently in remission but is unable to afford any more medical treatments.

But with Hope to cling to, Phillip is looking ahead.

"Everyday is a gift. Today's the best day of my life," he said.

"He's my best friend. My husband and my best friend," Hope said.

Phillip wasn't able to afford a ring, but like a true love story, theirs has a magical ending. The Jewelry Box in Woodland Park donated a ring to the pair.