Their love will live forever.
Bride Terry Torres married her longtime sweetheart Christopher Robinson in Manhattan Beach on Jan. 15, but the day was bittersweet. The ceremony was held at the Metropolitan Jewish Health System Hospice Inpatient Unit. Robinson is terminally ill.
But Torres said that even though their time together may be short, it is special.
“We got to marry our best friend,” said Torres, who has been dating Robinson for nearly four years. “It is kind of sad because, you know, we don’t know how much time we have to be together, but to be finally officially married, recognized in law and in God’s eyes, it feels really good.”
The couple — whose two-year-old son Christopher, Jr., was the ring bearer — found out that Robinson had terminal cancer when he was undergoing surgery last year to remove bullets after he was shot in a random assault. After the surgery, Robinson was diagnosed in June with metastatic medullary renal cell cancer and the couple moved from their home in Albany to the Manhattan Beach medical facility for treatment — but Torres said they both already knew that his prognosis was dim.
“At this point — since it’s so aggressive — it is only a couple weeks to two months at most of life expectancy,” she said.
But the dire diagnosis didn’t stop the couple from celebrating their big day, which Torres said was made even more special by the hospice staff who decorated the center.
“As I’m walking in I see the place is so beautiful — it is decked out in balloons and flowers and refreshments,” said Torres. “If it wasn’t for MJHS, we wouldn’t have had such a beautiful ceremony.”
She said the ceremony was interrupted a few times by Robinson’s health complications, but ultimately the couple ended the day on a sweet note.
“We said our vows and we were about to cut the cake and his IV was dripping blood and we were like, ‘Oh gosh,’ ” she said. “But we did it, we cut the cake.”
Terry said her husband, who usually has trouble standing by himself, was so happy to see her in her wedding dress that he jumped up — and she will always cherish the memories they made on their special day.
“When he laid eyes on me he just stood up, and it was like we were the only people in the room that mattered, and the earth was still,” she said.
