“I thought this would be a great way of honoring him and helping me cope with grief,” Ruthie Fonseca tells PEOPLE
Every day on his way home from work as a clinical psychologist, Julio would call Ruthie to catch up. They’d discuss their days, vent about Ruthie’s siblings and share the latest family gossip. Julio was not just a father; he was also Ruthie’s best friend.
When Julio, who lived in Puerto Rico, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2018 after a family vacation to Orlando, Florida, Ruthie’s world came crashing down.
“The first thing that went through my head immediately was fear. I never even fathomed a life without my dad, and in just a few seconds, that completely changed,” Ruthie, the owner and lead wedding content creator at Julious Daughters, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
Shortly after his diagnosis on Sept. 27, Julio underwent surgery. However, during surgery, doctors quickly realized the cancer had spread.
Realizing her dad’s time was limited, Ruthie, who worked at a bridal salon at the time, couldn’t bear the thought of her father missing out on walking 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,” Ruthie says.
Inspired, Ruthie conceived the idea of staging a photo shoot with her dad, including a first look and aisle walk. She approached Justin Alexander and asked to borrow a few dresses in her size.
“They immediately said ‘yes,’ ” Ruthie, 38, recalls.
With the help of her friends at Nuva Photography, they planned the shoot at Rollins College shortly after her sister’s wedding, a few days before Christmas.
Besides the dress, Ruthie, who was single at the time, wore her mom’s wedding ring as 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 shares. “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 also couldn’t help but feel sad about her future husband never meeting her dad.
“That is something that breaks my heart to this day,” she says.
Five months later, Julio died on May 29, 2019, at age 68. Almost a year later, Ruthie shared a TikTok from the photoshoot, which went viral, garnering over 200,000 views and 1,000 comments.
“I thought this would be a great way of honoring him and helping me cope with grief,” Ruthie explains.
“Grief is such a wild ride, and so not linear, and everyone’s experience is different,” she continues. “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.”
“While I thought the video might get some traction, I never imagined it would go viral! I received so many comments and DMs with people sharing their own personal stories with pancreatic cancer; it was truly so special,” she adds..
While five years later Ruthie remains single, she believes her dad is still working on finding her the perfect guy.
“I plan to use the photos whenever that day comes and honor him in a special way,” she says. “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!”