TORONTO -- An Ontario woman and her British fiance who remained separated for months due to border restrictions and despite her cancer diagnosis, will soon be reunited after the Canadian government announced it is easing cross-border travel restrictions.

Canada will open its borders to extended family on Thursday, allowing for the reunions of couples like Sarah Campbell and Jacob Taylor.

The couple were planning to get married in June, but had to postpone their wedding after COVID-19 hit and travel restrictions forced Taylor to remain in the U.K.

Campbell, who was later diagnosed with thyroid cancer in July, has spent the past eight months imploring the Canada Border Service Agency, the London High Commission, her locals MPs and other politicians to grant Taylor an exemption.

She told CTV's Your Morning that she was overwhelmed when she heard the federal government was easing the current cross-border travel policies on family reunification and that Taylor would soon be able to come to Canada.

"It was a lot of crying, but finally crying tears of joy," Campbell said in an interview on Monday.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marco Mendicino, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Health Minister Patty Hajdu announced the updated border measures and travel regulations on Friday, stating that compassion is needed in light of the worsening spread in some regions of Canada that will likely lead to renewed lockdown measures.

"We needed to take these steps, given that this is not a short-term problem," Hajdu said. "This disease is not going away any time soon."

As of Oct. 8, extended family members of Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents, including those in an exclusive dating relationship of at least one year and their dependent children, as well as adult children, grandchildren, siblings and grandparents can come to Canada.

In the case of long-term but unmarried couples who do not share an address, they will need to provide a notarized declaration about their relationship.

Also able to enter the country as of Oct. 8 will be non-relative foreign nationals under compassionate reasons in specific circumstances, such as a close friend experiencing a life-threatening illness, critical injury or death, with the potential for limited release from quarantine to visit the injured or dying loved one.

During the announcement, Campbell and Taylor got a special mention from Mendicino. She and other separated families had been putting considerable pressure on politicians and policymakers in recent months to further ease up on the rules.

"I know you've waited a long time for today," Mendicino said.

Campbell said she was not expecting the personal shout-out but is happy she and her fiance, and other couples in similar situations, will soon be able to reunite.

After spending eight months apart, Campbell said Taylor is planning to arrive in Canada on Saturday ahead of their rescheduled wedding date at the end of the month.

Campbell hopes the exemption process will run smoothly so their big day is not put on hold again.

"We're hoping the exemption process is fast. So we're hoping Jacob will be able to fly in by the 10th, in which case he would quarantine for two weeks until the 24th, and hopefully we'll be able to get married on the 25th, the day after his quarantine ends," she said.

While they are looking forward to their wedding, Campbell said it "means everything" to have Taylor by her side for the next phase of her cancer treatment. Campbell had surgery in August and is scheduled to begin radiation therapy in November.

"It means the world. There's nothing harder that I've had to go through in my life than having to go through surgery without him, and it's just going to mean so much to have him by my side for the next part of the treatment," Campbell said.

With files from CTVNews.ca's Rachel Aiello