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19-year-old who married Monday dies on Valentine’s Day

Before she died, Lydia Dominguez hugged her husband.
Lydia Dominguez shares a moment with her father after her wedding Monday.

Lydia Dominguez, a 19-year-old kidney cancer patient who married her best friend on Monday, died on Valentine's Day.

Dominguez married Joshua Ordoñez, 21, in a last-minute wedding on the 10th floor of El Paso Children's Hospital. She died in Ordoñez's arms at around 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Audrey Garcia, director of marketing for El Paso Children's Hospital, shared the following message about Dominguez's passing:

"This morning she woke up and said she was hot and she needed to do her hair. So mom put up her hair in a bun. She got a bit weak afterwards and laid down. She turned to look at her husband and smiled. She sat up and gave him the biggest hug. She then laid back down and all her family told her it was OK ... she could let go. And in two breaths, she was gone."

Dominguez was surrounded by her father, mother, siblings and loved ones, Garcia said.

She was first diagnosed with kidney cancer four years ago, when she was 15. Doctors found more cancer in her intestines and lymph nodes when they went in to remove the kidney.

In October, Dominguez got sick again. Her cancer had returned, and doctors found it had spread to her lungs and liver. Dominguez chose to stop all treatment for her cancer, and was only on pain medications.

Hospital staff organized her wedding in four hours, and the celebration included a cake, food and a poster for guests to sign.

Dominguez wore a white tea-length wedding dress with red flowers in her curled brown hair. She and Ordoñez were married by Robert Warmath, a community and care pastor at Del Sol Church. Warmath called the ceremony a wedding commitment, since a legal marriage license was not available.

Ordoñez said he met Dominguez online in 2017. The two met in person for the first time on Thanksgiving Day.

"I love her with all my heart, and want her to keep fighting until she's ready," Ordoñez said on Monday.

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