SOMERSWORTH, N.H. (MyFoxBoston.com) — A Somersworth, New Hampshire woman was granted her dying wish Thursday when her best friend showed up on her doorstep after being apart for 20 years.
Fifty year old Stephanie Defalco was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in June of 2012. Just last month, her condition worsened and she was given one to three months to live. That was reduced to one to three days last weekend when Defalco took a turn for the worse. That’s when she made one request; to see her long lost friend, Ann Hollenbeck.
The two met as neighbors in 1983 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and made an instant connection. They were inseparable until circumstances brought Hollenbeck to Indiana and the two lost touch. Neither are computer savvy so social media was not an option for staying in touch. They were reunited Thursday though, thanks to Defalco’s three kids who tracked Hollenbeck down and coordinated with the Dream Foundation to get her back out to N.H.
MESA, Ariz. — A Mesa man who is battling cancer is about to have the dream of his life fulfilled.
Robert Gordon, 58, was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Doctors have given him 12 months or less to live.
Dream Foundation, a nationwide wish-granting organization, heard about his plight and that his dream of visiting Disneyland has never been fulfilled, due to financial constraints.
Robert Gordon has wanted to go to Disneyland since he was a young child. Now, Gordon, a 58-year-old Mesa resident, is about to see his dream come true.
Gordon was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in June 2013, but his illness was the last thing on his mind Tuesday afternoon, when he was presented with a basket for a nearly weeklong trip to visit Disneyland and other Southern California amusement parks.
Gordon’s trip was scheduled for later this fall but was moved up because of concerns about Gordon’s health, said his wife, Pat.
More than 60 friends, family members, hospital staff and neighbors gathered in Gordon’s front yard to watch the Dream Foundation grant his wish Tuesday afternoon.
Though Lorraine Helton is confined to a hospital bed and has to take multiple medicines to reduce pain and bleeding from chronic liver disease and its complications, she gets a smile on her face and her eyes light up when she talks about her granddaughter, Heather Barbary.
Heather, who lives in Rhode Island, traveled here Thursday with her boyfriend, Zachary Marchand, their 18-month-old daughter, Addison Marchand, and Heather’s son, Christopher Lavery, 8. Friday morning, Heather walked into Helton’s bedroom and gave her grandmother a huge kiss.
Dream Foundation and Carl’s Jr. will fulfill U.S. Army veteran and terminal lung cancer patient Phillip Van Ingram’s final wish to visit his mother in Chicago.
Dream Foundation, the first and largest national wish-granting organization for adults and their families suffering life-threatening illness, partners each year with CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., as well as their Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s franchisees, for the national burger chain’s Stars for Heroes campaign which raises funds to deliver final dreams to U.S. military heroes and veterans.
