111Orthry Torres believes hers to have an extra touch — and for good reason. Two years ago, she thought she would not live to see her wedding day after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
On July 18, Torres married Jose Vasquez at St. Patrick Church, 118 S. Broadway.
Now Torres wants to pass on her good fortune by donating her dress to a cancer survivor like herself or a bride-to-be who cannot afford to purchase one.
"I want to prove that regardless of what you go through, you don't have to give up your dreams," she said. "I'll have pictures to remember the dress. Seeing someone else who needs it wear it, will be more meaningful."
She met her husband at Hewlett-Packard, where she works as a financial sales order specialist. They often talked in the lunch room before they started dating. He was later laid off.
Torres kept her illness a secret from Vasquez, even though she knew his mother, Maria Vasquez, had died of breast cancer Oct. 15, 2007.
"I didn't want him to feel sorry for me and see me differently," she said.
Vasquez thought otherwise.
"I wasn't going to leave her for that reason," he said. "I think my mother brought us closer together because she wanted me to get married. I thought this day would never come and now I'm with a girl I love and I'll spend the rest of my life with."
Torres was first diagnosed with cancer May 17, 2007 and had surgery four weeks later.
She admits being, "shocked" and "scared" but remained hopeful.
"I never thought of it as a death sentence. I saw it as the beginning of a new life for me," she said. "I left it all God's hands and never had any doubts that I was going to survive."
Doctors found another tumor five months later.
"I cried the second time because I did not want to go through the whole emotional and medical process all over again," she said. "I was a bit more scared and depressed."
Yet she remained hopeful.
"I continued praying and waited to see what was going to happen," said Torres, a 1994 graduate of Lawrence High.
Through her illness, Torres continued working at Hewlett-Packard and enrolled in the online business management program at the University of Phoenix.
Two days after her last chemotherapy treatment on Aug. 27, 2008, Vasquez got on his knees by her hospital bed and asked her to marry him.
"Before I said yes, I asked him, 'Did you ask my mother?'" she said, referring to the Hispanic tradition of asking parents for a daughter's hand in marriage.
Torres' mother not only said yes, but made a sign of the cross as an additional blessing before her daughter left for the ceremony last Saturday.
Torres' brother, Thomas Castro, walked her down the aisle. Her sister, Elizabeth Torres, was the maid of honor, and her sister, Celia Santell, and sister-in-law, Maria Vasquez, were bridesmaids. Junior bridesmaids were Shakyra Ramiro and ySabella Santell-Wright; the flower girl was Ashley Romero. Jose Burgos and Pablo Ortiz were the best men; Miguel Martin and Richard Gomez were ushers; and Ryan Waterman was ring bearer. Lilian and Marcos Pena were godparents.
The wedding colors were royal blue and chocolate. The wedding had a Cinderella theme. There was a drawing of a frog on the dinner menu, the wedding party received Cinderella shoes as favors and guests took home candles in the shape of frogs wearing crowns.
Torres and her bridesmaids wore a pin in the shape of an angel. A friend of Santell's had given it to her when the friend found out Torres had cancer.
"I've worn it since and I wanted it to be part of my wedding because it means faith, hope and survival," Torres said.
To inquire about Orthry Torres' dress, e-mail her at: Jose.orthryv@gmail.com.
