Dying Florida Teen's Last Wish Is To Marry High School Sweetheart

A Florida teenager with a rare cancer was given only weeks to live and he wants to live out the rest of his days with the love of his life. Nineteen-year-old Dustin Snyder, of Valrico, wants to marry the person who's been there for him throughout: his high school sweetheart Sierra Siverio.

Snyder was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma a day before his 18th birthday in 2016, according to a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for his wedding. Doctors conducted surgery to remove the cancer from his affected lung, but the cancer returned and took over his stomach and pelvic area. He is currently in hospice with a pain pump connected to his heart.

Snyder's mother, Cassandra Fondahn, told the Washington Post doctors hoped to save his lung but had to remove it. He was cancer-free in January 2017 but by August doctors found three more spots.

According to the GoFundMe page, Snyder and Siverio's wedding will be on Sunday.

“I love her. She’s been there for me through this whole process,” Snyder told The Washington Post. He told the paper that he treated his longtime girlfriend to dinner Thursday night where he asked her to marry him and she said yes.

“She’s the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with,” he told the Post.

Fondahn told the Post they were told the cancer would keep returning until doctors couldn't treat it anymore. She added that her son is getting worse with the hospice team increasing his pain medications. Doctors informed the family several weeks ago that the teen only had weeks to live.

“He got a small burst of energy since this whole wedding thing came about,” Fondahn said. “We’re really hoping that Sunday gets pulled off for him.”

The page raising money for the young couple's wedding has raised more than $35,000 as of Monday. The two first met in the sixth-grade, lost touch after middle school and met once again as high school seniors, according to USA Today.

“Definitely my first love,” Siverio told USA Today. “For sure.”

The wedding will be at the Big Red Barn in Riverview, Florida.

Photo via GoFundMe