The union of marriage has long been proven to increase your chances of cancer survival, but scientists have only just figured out why.
And according to the latest research, it's all down to having someone in your life to lean on when things get rough.
Scientists at the Cancer Prevention Institute in Fremont, California studied data from 783,167 cancer patients on the Cancer Registry (386,607 of whom had died).
What they found was that unmarried men had a 27 percent higher mortality risk, while unmarried women were 19 percent more likely to die.
Delving further into the data to analyse economic resources, they managed to uncover a very important fact: resources played a minimal role.
"It points more to social support as the defining factor.” said lead author Scarlett Lin Gomez.
Couples were better equipped to battle their illness when they had a husband or wife by their side.
Tell us, do you think marriage is the secret to a long-lasting relationship? Let us know on Twitter @HerFamilydotie. 
