A close relationship existed between Ruthie Fonseca and her father, Julio.
During his commute home from his job as a clinical psychologist, Julio would make a phone call to Ruthie in order to catch up with her. In addition to venting about Ruthie’s siblings, they would talk about their days and exchange the most recent family gossip. Not only was Julio Ruthie’s father, but he was also her deepest and most trusted friend.
The news that Julio, who resided in Puerto Rico, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August of 2018, during a trip to Orlando, Florida, with his family, brought Ruthie’s world to a completely different place.
I was instantly overcome with dread, and that was the first thing that came to my mind. According to Ruthie, the owner of Julious Daughters and the main wedding content developer at Julious Daughters, who spoke exclusively to PEOPLE, “I never even fathomed a life without my dad, and in just a few seconds, that completely changed.”
Julio had surgery on September 27, only a few days after he was given his diagnosis. On the other hand, the physicians rapidly noticed that the cancer had spread while they were operating.
Even though Ruthie, who was working at a wedding salon at the time, was aware that her father had a short amount of time, she could not handle the notion of her father not being able to be there to accompany her down the aisle.
“That’s when I decided that cancer was about to take a lot from us, but it wasn’t going to take that experience from me,” according to Ruthie.
As a result of some inspiration, Ruthie came up with the concept of organizing a picture session with her father, which would include a first glance and an aisle walk. Justin Alexander was contacted by her, and she requested that he lend her a couple clothes that were in her size.
“They immediately said ‘yes,'” Ruthie, who is 38 years old, tells oneself.
A few days before Christmas, just after her sister’s wedding, they organized the shoot at Rollins College with the assistance of her pals at Nuva Photography. The session was scheduled to take place at Rollins College.
In addition to the outfit, Ruthie, who was not in a relationship at the time, donned her mother’s wedding band as it was considered her “something old.”
“I was a little nervous, which is silly because it wasn’t a real wedding, but I wanted it to be perfect,” she explains to us. “This was the one time my dad would get to see me as a bride, and for me to have that experience with him, even if it wasn’t the real thing.”
Ruthie couldn’t help but feel a sense of regret that her future husband will never get the opportunity to meet her father.
“That is something that breaks my heart to this day,” she continues to explain.
Julio passed away on May 29, 2019, at the age of 68, five months after his loss. After over a year had passed, Ruthie uploaded a TikTok video from the photoshoot, which quickly became very popular, with more than 200,000 views and one thousand comments.
“I thought this would be a great way of honoring him and helping me cope with grief,” Ruthie says in her explanation.
“Grief is such a wild ride, and so not linear, and everyone’s experience is different,” she continues to explain. “I thought that if I could share my experience and even give a little bit of hope, joy, or even the same idea to someone going through this, it would be worth it.”
I was under the impression that the video might get some momentum, but I never dreamed that it would become so popular that it would go viral! “I received a great number of comments and direct messages from individuals who shared their own personal experiences with pancreatic cancer; it was truly the most remarkable thing,” she continues.
Ruthie feels that her father is still working on finding her the ideal partner, despite the fact that she has not found a suitable partner in the last five years.
“I plan to use the photos whenever that day comes and honor him in a special way,” she explains further. “We actually took some funny photos towards the end where I am pretending to have my arm around someone; he said so that we could eventually photoshop the groom in!”
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