Dustin Snyder and Sierra Siverio, both 19 and high school sweethearts, are getting married this weekend. Snyder is fighting terminal cancer and is in hospice care, but the pair want to spend the rest of his days together.
"Sierra means the world to me," Snyder told WTSP-TV. "Everything. Can't even describe it in words."
The two dated in the sixth grade but lost touch with each other until they reunited as high school seniors.
"(He is) definitely my first love, for sure," Siverio told WTSP-TV.
Snyder, a Valrico, Florida, resident, is currently under hospice care with a pain pump connected to his heart as he battles synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.
"I'm blessed that he has her and that all the time that he's gone through, she's literally been by his side the whole time," Cassandra Fondahn, Snyder's mother, told ABC News. "That's a lot for a 19-year-old girl."
Snyder was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma a day before his 18th birthday and had surgery to remove the affected lung. With chemotherapy, doctors believed then that they had gotten all of the cancer.
But Snyder learned three weeks ago that the cancer had spread to his stomach and pelvic area after being rushed to the hospital with abdominal pains, ABC News reported.
The plan for a wedding was hatched by Snyder's sister Brittany Hails, who started a GoFundMe campaign for it.
"He really wants to marry the woman that has stuck by his side through all the sleepless night and now dealing with knowing he will pass any time soon," Hails said on the page, which has now raised more than $12,000 for the couple. "Dustin always said 'She is a keeper.'"
A wedding dress, tuxedo, photographer and even the venue, The Big Red Barn, have all been donated to the couple, ABC News reported. LifePath Hospice is also donating the flowers and bridesmaid dresses for the wedding, which will happen Sunday surrounded by friends and family.
"If two people love each other and they want to be together for the rest of their lives, why can't they be?" Siverio said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.