With only days to live, a New Jersey woman had to play the waiting game to marry the man she loved.
Linette Lebron and Camden's Omar Estevez had to play the waiting game when it came to marrying after Linette got a terminal diagnosis of Stage 4 stomach cancer.
“She was a beautiful mother…a beautiful wife. Mother of my three kids,” said a tearful Estevez.
In her final days, Linette and then fiancée Omar decided to wait on marriage -- instead they focused on her treatment.
Everything changed when she was given only days to live. “It was her dream to get married,” said Omar. What they didn’t expect was a law requiring a three-day application and waiting period for a marriage license in the Garden State.
Running back and forth between the hospital, town hall and the court house, Estevez wasted moments of precious time with his dying wife trying to secure the license.
A call to Assemblyman Angel Fuentes sped up the process. After pulling some strings the license was issued and the wedding happened in Linette’s hospital room.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
She died the next day.
Assemblyman Fuentes said it’s not the first time this has happened.
"This has to stop, we have to do a better job," said Fuentes.
Fuentes knows of at least four cases in the last three years just like Omar and Linette’s. With that in mind, Fuentes is drafting a bill that would give doctors the ability to submit an affidavit and waive the three-day wait.
