On Chris' 50th birthday he began to show signs of illness and was diagnosed with stage 3 Leukemia. Undergoing chemotherapy, Chris survived the disease after receiving bone marrow from eldest son Frank Warner (Luke Patrick). Nursed to health by Kate Hannah (Laurel Devenie), the two fell in love. Kate left Chris for her true love Mo Hannah (Jarod Rawiri) and Chris began to date her younger sister Zoe Carlson (Holly Shervey). Chris was shocked when the much younger Zoe revealed she had been faking cancer, but also that she was pregnant. The couple broke up when Chris pressured her to terminate as the baby was likely to be disabled on birth, but Zoe miscarried when she was raped by The Beechwood Beast. Chris and Zoe nearly reconciled only for his heartbreak when he discovered she had mutually fallen in love with his son Finn (Lukas Whiting).