Most couples want nothing more than to spend the rest of their lives together -- but when one partner is terminally ill, getting married is often their final wish.
Manuel Sosa's battle with end-stage liver disease and Hepatitis C didn't stop him from marrying his longtime girlfriend, Adriana Tafoya, on Monday.
The couple's wedding was put on by the Southern California Chapter of Wish Upon A Wedding, a non-profit that grants weddings and vow renewals for those facing life-threatening illnesses and coping with other life-altering circumstances. Sosa, 44-year-old Temple City, Calif. resident, exchanged vows with his bride in Pasadena.
The entire event -- from the groom's suit to the catered food -- was donated by Orange County and Los Angeles-area wedding vendors.
Sosa, who is on the waiting list for a liver transplant, told Mercury News that he was "in shock" that Wish Upon A Wedding decided to help him. "I was very touched, especially because I wouldn't be able to do it because of my sickness and my finances," he told the Silicon Valley newspaper.
Sosa and Tafoya first met in 2006 through a mutual friend.
It's not the first time a couple has refused to let a life-threatening illness stand in the way of their wedding.
In February, Texas bride Tiffany Nix wed her boyfriend of three years, Mark McCullers, in an Old Hollywood-themed wedding, despite her long battle with Islet Cell Hyperplasia, a condition that forced Nix to have multiple insulin shots a day, six surgeries in two years and even a pancreas transplant. Nix's happy groom told CBS DFW, "I'm happy that she's able to get the wedding she deserves."