California woman with terminal cancer marries love of her life

Saturday, July 11, 2015
OC woman with terminal cancer marries love of her life
An Orange County woman who was given six months to live fulfilled her dying wish. She married the love of her life and father of her two children.

ORANGE, CA -- An Orange County woman who was given six months to live fulfilled her dying wish. She married the love of her life and father of her two children.

Tears of both joy and heartbreak were shed at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange on Friday, as friends and family gathered to watch Sandra Orellana walk down the aisle with her father.

It's the day Orellana and Andres Rendon had been waiting for since they met, a wedding they've been planning for eight years.

The couple met soon after 24-year-old Orellana moved from El Salvador in 2007.

They began saving money for a dream wedding. During that time, they had two girls, including 4-year-old Karen and 2-year-old Rachel.

Last August, a car accident left Orellana with a traumatic spinal injury. While receiving treatment, doctors discovered she had stomach cancer.

She began chemotherapy at St. Joseph's Hospital, but it wasn't working. Doctors realized the cancer was much further along than they once thought and gave her six months to live.

But on Friday, no one at the wedding was thinking about the car crash, cancer or what's to come. Friday was about celebrating Orellana and Rendon, their love and their family.

The hospital staff volunteered and gave their own money to make sure she got her last wish. The Dream Foundation will pay for her entire family to celebrate their honeymoon at Disneyland.

Through it all, Orellana has stayed optimistic.

"My life is very happy," Orellana said.