A bride whose sister was diagnosed with terminal cancer two days before her wedding managed to see her on the big day by FaceTiming her as she walked down the aisle.



Ashley Gallardo, 29, was in the midst of last-minute wedding planning when her sister, Dolores Mondelli, 36, was given the devastating diagnosis of stage four colon cancer.



Dolores had experienced a lack of appetite, abdomen pain and bathroom issues but initially put them down to her pre-existing Graves' disease – an autoimmune disorder where the thyroid gland is overactive.

Dolores struggled for a "while" before getting checked out on November 14 2019 at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center, Texas, where she was sent for an CT scan that revealed a mass on her colon and lesions on her liver. "

She was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer on the same day.



She was rushed in for emergency surgery to remove the mass colon on the day of Ashley's wedding, on 16 November 2019 - where she had been set to be her maid of honour.



Waking up from her surgery in time for the ceremony, Dolores surprised Ashley with an emotional FaceTime call as she walked down the aisle to marry her partner, Geri, 33, an insurance agent, at Chateau on the Creek, Round Rock, Texas.



Ashley, a loan office assistant, from Austin, Texas, US, said: "I had no idea my sister was going to be there on FaceTime, I thought she was still going to be in surgery."



"The camera pans to me at the wedding and I'm just crying."



"She's mouthing 'you look so beautiful'."



"We went to see her in the hospital on the night of my wedding."



"She gasped when she saw me in my wedding dress and started crying."



"She said I looked like a princess."



"We hugged and she said she was so proud of me and that she loves me, and that she was going to fight." "

My mom truly is the warrior in all this as well she went to surgery in morning and came back to help me get ready, Sonia Errisuriz, 59

The evening before the wedding, Dolores' daughter, Victoria, 21, stayed with Ashley at home.



Ashley said: "My niece, Victoria, was there with me."



"It really comforted me."



"I felt like I had a piece of sister with me."



Dolores had been struggling with pain in her abdomen, bathroom issue and a lack of appetite before a CT scan in November 2019 revealed a mass on her colon.



Ashley said: "She did chemotherapy and then had a few surgeries to remove spots [of cancer], more chemotherapy and then doctors decided as she was so young she should do HIPEC surgery which flushes out the organs with hot chemotherapy."



"It's a very invasive, intense surgery and she was in the ICU for weeks after." "

Tragically, after another surgery to rectify issues with her ileostomy bag, doctors found Dolores' cancer was "spreading very rapidly"."



Ashley said: "They put her on a ventilator, and we didn't know."



"We didn't get to say goodbye."



"She protected a lot of herself from us, she was very strong."



"My mum, Sonia, 59, called the hospital and found out, and had a last conversation with her."



"Dolores said she didn't want to go, and she wanted to live." "

Dolores died on August 20, 2021, aged 38.



Ashley was able to introduce her newborn son, Santiago, now three, to her sister just two months before she died.



Ashley said: "After that I found out I was having a girl in December 2022."



"I prayed 'can you make my daughter look like my sister?'."



"And she looks just like her. She acts like her."



"It's really sweet and honouring."



"She truly was my best friend, and I miss her every day."



"We were soulmates, we never fought."



"She had the most beautiful big smile, I just miss it."



"She was an amazing mother, and I would want to honour that."



"Her son, Xay, 24 is so talented. "

"He's an auto detailer and he's just started playing music. "

"His talent is crazy."



"Her three daughters - Victoria, 21, Trinity, 15, and Vivian, 10 - are beautiful and strong."



"They're just like her in that way."



"It sucks she won't get to see them grow up."



"I know she's always watching - always with us."