The San Jose Sharks can use all the good karma they can get, and maybe this tale will earn some favor with the hockey gods.
Nick Gallagher is a 28-year-old Aptos resident who has battled brain cancer for the past seven years. Sadly, he’s now in hospice care with a terminal diagnosis. But his wish was to attend a San Jose Sharks playoff game, and the Santa Barbara-based Dream Foundation made it happen for Tuesday’s Game 4 with the help of the Sharks Foundation.
Gallagher and his family lived a Sharks fan’s dream that night. They had dinner alongside broadcasters Brodie Brazil, Bret Hedican and Scott Reiss, watched the Sharks warm up on the ice and delivered high fives to the team as they skated through the giant Shark Head. Gallagher rode on the Zamboni and hung out with Dan Rusanowsky during the thrilling third period. Afterward, the family met with Coach Todd McLelland, General Manager Doug Wilson and nearly all the members of the team including Gallagher’s hero, Joe Thornton.
As the San Jose Sharks hockey players ran out of their locker room to hit the ice before Game 4 against the Los Angeles Kings, diehard fan Nick Gallagher sat in his wheelchair with his fist out.
Most of the players fist-pumped him back to his joy. His dream was coming true. His whole life he wanted to meet the Sharks up close and on Tuesday night…he did.
“Ever since I became a fan, I’ve always wanted to meet them and I got the chance to meet them,” Gallagher said with a big smile on his face.
Raymond Finerty isn’t concerned with how many days he has left to complete his bucket list. He’s not even sure what else is on the list. But he knows he has scratched off the most important item: attending the Masters Tournament.
A quiet and unassuming Irishman, Finerty, 59, was diagnosed with mesothelioma three years ago. The incurable, rare cancer was traced to work he did in an auto shop, where he was likely exposed to asbestos in brake linings.
In March, Finerty was surprised at his doorstep in Queens, N.Y., by the Dream Foundation, an organization that grants wishes to adults with terminal illnesses.
Raymond Finerty has long dreamed about visiting the sacred links of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia for the Masters tournament.
And after three years battling cancer, the terminally ill 59-year-old Maspeth resident is about to wake up in a world where that dream is a reality.
The Dream Foundation, the first and largest national wish-granting organization for adults and their families suffering life-threatening illnesses, is fulfilling Finerty’s final wish to visit the famous golf club in April and attend the decisive round of the Masters, one of the four major championships in professional golf.