WEDDING BELLES Radio star Lana's Mrs Right

The Celebrity Treasure Island star knew she’d found the one when Katie came to her rescue

- Rebecca Barry Hill

On November 19, More FM host Lana Searle will marry her fiancée Katie Cochrane – and you can bet when they recite their vows, they won’t be short on material. The couple met seven years ago and became friends before romance blossomed four years later, but their relationship almost immediately was put to the test.

In 2018, Lana underwent a hysterectomy, after years of hormonal and blood clotting issues. “Katie was 100 percent there for me,” recalls Lana, 34. “She’s always so cute and caring.”

Having been friends for so long, Katie was well aware of the health issues Lana had faced leading up to her surgery.

“She knew what I needed and that was someone calm,” says the bubbly Breakfast Club host, “because it was a huge emotional journey as well. She allowed me to take my time to heal and get through it.”

The couple laugh that Katie, 39, was indeed so calm that when Lana was rushed by ambulance to hospital following post-op complications, Katie stopped off at a McDonald’s on her way to join her and bought a cheeseburger. “I knew it would be a long night!” she jokes.

The couple became engaged a year later, after Lana travelled to Croatia for a month-long holiday and Katie realized just how much she missed her. When she returned, Katie proposed on Lana’s favorite beach, Glinks Gully, near Dargaville, where she grew up.

“She was like, ‘Why don’t we go out and touch the water?’” laughs Lana of the slightly suspicious mid-winter proposal.