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A BRIDE to be was killed just days before her wedding in a head-on car wreck with a drunk, wrong-way driver.
Katelyn Callahan, aged 23, was in a vehicle with her fiancé, Tristen Cherry, who is 24, as well as two teenage passengers. They were traveling near Oklahoma City when 29-year-old Sergio Ibarra collided with them on May 2.
Ibarra entered the I-44 highway in the wrong direction, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Callahan was declared dead at the scene, while Cherry and the teenagers, Rudi Kroll and Jayli Diel, both 17, were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
The couple was returning from the Calf Fry Festival in Stillwater at the time.
Authorities report that Ibarra was under the influence of alcohol during the accident, leading to charges of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of DUI resulting in severe bodily harm.
Ibarra and his 36-year-old passenger were also hospitalized as a result of the crash.
Authorities say Ibarra was going the wrong direction on the highway for about half a mile before slamming into Callahan’s car.
Cherry and Callahan were only weeks away from their wedding, which was set to happen on May 31, in Bristow, Oklahoma.
The two dated for three years, becoming an official couple after Cherry asked Callahan to be his date at his fraternity’s formal.
Before their nuptials, the couple recently moved in together and adopted two dogs.
The crash sent Cherry into a coma for nearly three weeks, until he awoke to learn that his beloved fiancée had died.
Tristen Cherry & Katelyn Callahan’s love story
The couple created a website for their wedding, calling their relationship “the greatest love story this town has ever seen.”
“After several years into knowing of each other, Katelyn attending Kiefer High School and Tristen at Bixby High School, just 10 minutes apart.
“They couldn’t put a face to the name but only knowing where each other would be.
“Tristen and Katelyn had been keeping up with one another after several months of random snaps or offering assistance for one another.
“Tristen, knowingly how beautiful inside and out Katelyn is, it was irresistible and he would be dumb to not ask this angel on a date.
“The couple met at Tristen’s fraternity formal after he had asked for her to be his date.
“A once in a lifetime moment of a feeling for the two after dancing, talking, showing common interests and sharing memories and knowledge of mutual friends, they give it a shot or as they say, God’s plan.
“The two have been inseparable since and still adore the time they first locked eyes and felt the strength they both had for each other, little did they know they’d be getting married in the near future.
“The love continues to grow as days go by and forever shall they both live healthy and compassionate, sharing their heart and soul, blood in blood out, undying love.”
Source: The Knot
Cherry had several injuries, including a broken femur, a lacerated kidney, and 64 facial fractures.
He also lost seven teeth and had his mouth wired shut, according to his stepmom, Traci Wages-Cherry.
“He couldn’t talk,” she told local NBC affiliate, KJRH-TV.
“His eyes were swollen shut, so he couldn’t see.”
Cherry, who was in the backseat at the time of the crash, told the outlet that he remembers what happened just before the crash.
“I kind of sat up in my seat, and I see headlights,” he said. “I said, ‘Katelyn, I love you.’ And we hit.”
When looking at photos of Callahan in her wedding dress — that she never got to wear — Cherry kept gushing about his college sweetheart.
“She was gorgeous. All my groomsmen came up. Some of her bridesmaids came up,” Cherry said, recalling how his family and wedding party visited him at the hospital on what would have been his wedding day.
A GoFundMe was created on behalf of Callahan’s family to help cover funeral expenses and “support her family with any additional needs as they grieve and try to heal,” according to the page.
At the time of writing, the fundraiser has more than $17,200 out of a $20,000 goal.
For now, Cherry said that he is focusing on his long road to recovery, both physical and emotional.
“The most I can ask for at this point is healing,” he said. “Healing takes time, and time takes healing.”
Kroll and Diel, the teen passengers in Callahan’s car, are still in the hospital weeks after the crash.
