Miracles followed because 11 year old made a wish

11 year old made dying wish that reached around the world

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 15, 2020

Confession: When I decided to put up these miracles, it was because I needed something to change the mood I was in. So many stories on Wounded Times, that it is hard to remember all of them. For now, I am putting up the ones that stand out most in my mind. Then I'll go through the other 38,000 to find more. They will be posted on PTSD until I run out of them.

The one posted today is about an 11 year old boy dying from cancer. This little boy had great compassion for the homeless in his area, that his dying wish was to be able to help them. His Mom supported that and did what she could to honor his wish.

What followed was his wish being heard around the world. Within a month, his wish was granted and the little angel changed the lives of millions!

read his story here

Vietnam veteran got dying wish, ride in convertible with nurses

Veteran's dying wish to ride in a convertible with 'three pretty nurses' granted

NBC 10 News
by SAM READ
September 23rd 2019

COVENTRY, R.I. (WJAR) -- A veteran who is spending the remainder of his days in Rhode Island hospice care had a wish granted on Monday.

Vietnam War Veteran Patrick Lonergan's wish to ride in a convertible with "three pretty nurses" comes true Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. (WJAR)

He's battling end-stage COPD, uses an oxygen machine and has been a resident at Coventry Health Care since March. Patrick Lonergan said he joined the military during the height of the Vietnam War in 1968.

During his last "monthly" meeting, Lonergan said he made a comment to his caretakers that prompted action from them.

"You know they were asking me questions what else can they do for me this month; 'How can we help you?' What can we do for you?'" said Lonergan. "The third time they asked, 'What can we do for you?' I kind of threw my hands up and said, 'How about a ride in a convertible with three pretty nurses?' And they took me seriously."read it here

Vietnam Veteran Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse

Strangers invited to funeral for Vietnam veteran who died alone. ‘I wanted to honor his final wishes,’ his nurse said.

Philadelphia Enquirer
by Melanie Burney
July 9, 2019

Kelly left Vietnam in November 1970 and received an honorable discharge, his records show. Little is known about his life after the military. He returned to Philadelphia. Richello said he had a hard life, “and he was one of the forgotten.”

BRADLEY C BOWER / FOR THE INQUIRER

Former Army Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse: He wanted to be buried with full military honors, a parade, bagpipes, and a 21-gun salute.

In death, Kelly will get what he did not receive in life when he returned home to Philadelphia from the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. His nurse, Jennifer Richello, has recruited a band of strangers to keep the promise she made to Kelly on his deathbed a few months ago.

“I wanted to honor his final wishes, and love and respect for his service to our country,” Richello, a registered nurse, said in a statement Tuesday. “Kelly was a good man and deserves this.”

Richello also made a special request to mourners: bring a can of Pepsi to the funeral. Kelly loved the soft drink, she said.

After graduating from high school, Kelly enlisted on Jan. 14, 1969, his 20th birthday. He completed training at Fort Bragg, N.C, and Fort Sill, Okla., according to his military record. He was deployed to Vietnam in December 1969 and served as a communications chief in the 13th Battalion Signal, First Cavalry Division.
read it here

Help Herbie, WW2 Veteran, Dying Wish Come True

Fundraiser Underway to Help 96-Year-Old WWII Veteran Live Final Days at Home Care Facility

Faithwire
February 18, 2019

Friends of Gordon’s set up a GoFundMe campaign called “Herbie WW2 Veterans Dying Wish” to help cover the costs. It had raised more than $11,000 of the $35,712 goal as of the weekend.

A community is trying to give back to a hero who served this country by ensuring he gets to live his final days comfortably in the home care facility where he spent the last years with his late wife.

World War II U.S. Army veteran Herb Gordon, 96, has had multiple brushes with death, the latest being in 2017, when he broke his neck while volunteering at a medical center, he told WPBF-TV.

“They were so certain I was going to die on the operating table, but I had my family here and God listened,” Gordon said of his caretakers at the Atria Senior Living Facility in Lantana, Florida. “And here I am.”
read more here

Canadian Veteran's dying wish, to step it with wife of 70 years!

Wife of ailing WWII veteran denied bed at Camp Hill

The Chronicle Herald Canada
Andrew Rankin
December 1, 2018
“I’m 97 years old and I’m only getting a few days here and there to see my wife,” said Vaughan. “This could go on until I die. Not a very nice thing to think about.”

The pair have been married for 70 years

Second World War veteran David Vaughan says he’s disappointed that his wife of 70 years is not allowed to live with him at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital in Halifax. - Andrew Rankin

David Vaughan is nearing 100 years of age and the Second World War veteran wishes he could spend whatever time he has left with his wife Cecilia.

“I miss her a lot,” said Vaughan as he lay in bed at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital in Halifax Monday evening. “She’s from Cape Breton, a wonderful girl. My best friend.”

The 97 year old, who served as a tank operator during the Italian campaign, found out from hospital staff this week that his 92-year-old wife Cecilia isn’t allowed to move in to the 175-bed long-term care facility.

Veterans Affairs confirmed this on Friday, saying all but 22 of the beds there are currently occupied by Canadian veterans. The Nova Scotia Health Authority pays a fee to the department for those beds. They’re occupied by regular civilians discharged from hospital and awaiting long-term care outside of Camp Hill.

Still, the facility currently boasts 28 vacant rooms.
read more here

Santa Claus grants final wish to a dying child

Looks like a reporter picked up the story from social media and it was not verified. WOW


Story of Santa Claus with dying child can't be verified

Since publication, the News Sentinel has done additional investigation in an attempt to independently verify Schmitt-Matzen’s account. This has proven unsuccessful.

'I cried all the way home': Santa Claus grants final wish to a dying child
WHAS 11 News
Sam Venable, (Knoxville, Tenn.) News Sentinel , KING
December 11, 2016

“I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I’ve seen my share of (stuff). But I ran by the nurses’ station bawling my head off. I know nurses and doctors see things like that every day, but I don’t know how they can take it.’”

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Eric Schmitt-Matzen looks every bit like Santa Claus.

His 6-foot frame carries 310 pounds, leaving “just enough of a lap for the kids to sit on,” he says with a gentle Kringley chuckle right out of Central Casting.

No fake facial fuzz for this guy. Schmitt-Matzen’s snowy beard is the real thing, albeit regularly bleached to maintain its whiteness. His shag is so spectacular, in fact, it won first place in the “natural full beard, styled moustache” division of a 2016 national contest sponsored by the Just For Men hair products company.

He’s professionally trained. Custom-tailored in red. Was born on Dec. 6 (that’s Saint Nicholas Day — are you surprised?) Works approximately 80 gigs annually. Wife Sharon plays an authentic Mrs. Claus. His cellphone, with a Jingle Bells ringtone, continually counts down the days until Christmas. Even his civilian attire always includes Santa suspenders.

The whole shtick is designed to spread joy and have fun.

Which it does – except for the role he played several weeks ago at a local hospital.

“I cried all the way home,” Schmitt-Matzen told me. “I was crying so hard, I had a tough time seeing good enough to drive.
read more here

Dying Wish of Vietnam Veteran, Fix the VA

Vietnam veteran's dying wish: Improve VA healthcare
Hawaii News Now
By Mileka Lincoln, Reporter
September 14th 2016

Hall was one of more than 4,300 veterans receiving VA care on the Big Island, where there are only four VA doctors.

KALAPANA, BIG ISLAND (HawaiiNewsNow) - Sixty-eight-year-old Roy Hall was holding his wife Edy's hand when he passed away on Saturday.

The combat-wounded Vietnam veteran and forever Marine died exactly one month after he was diagnosed with lung cancer at a Hilo emergency room.

Hall was a long-time U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs patient who claims his VA doctor missed the diagnosis -- and by the time someone else caught it, it was terminal.

Hall was one of more than 4,300 veterans receiving VA care on the Big Island, where there are only four VA doctors.

"I wish I would've gotten killed in Vietnam," Hall said, from his death bed. "Then I wouldn't have to go through this. I f***ing hate it."

In Hall's final days, it was his dying wish to share his story with others in hopes it could lead to improved health care for all service members.

His wife Edy, a veteran herself who served in the Air Force and beat both breast and colon cancer, calls it her husband's final mission.

In August 2014, Roy says he went to the Hilo VA primary care clinic seeking treatment for debilitating back pain.

Over the next two and a half years, Roy and Edy Hall say his physician repeatedly prescribed him pain pills and referred him to his VA psychiatrist for management of his PTSD.

"Eight months ago he started slowing down," Edy Hall said. "The pain was getting worse and worse. He didn't want to go back to the doctor because he kept telling him it was his PTSD or he was surfing too much, instead of even doing just an x-ray. Then he started losing weight like crazy. And then he even said, 'I think I have cancer.'"
read more here
Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Korean War Veteran Gets Dying Wish, A Uniform To Be Buried In

Marine gets his dying wish: A uniform to be buried in
Providence Journal
By Carol Kozma
Journal Staff Writer
Posted Aug. 17, 2016

Normand Dupras, of Swansea, had served in the Korean War. At 86, and now suffering from dementia, it was his dying wish a few years back that he could be buried in the uniform, he said.

DIGHTON, Mass. — Normand Dupras sat at the Dighton Nursing Center, amazed to hear from his granddaughter, Dona Silva, that a group of people was there to see him.

“We’ve got a surprise for you," Silva told him Wednesday.

That’s when Glenn Dusablon, of the Veterans Memorial Museum, in Woonsocket, presented Dupras with a full Marine Corps dress uniform, including the white hat, belt and gloves.

“I love this," Dupras said, looking over each item.

Dupras, of Swansea, Massachusetts, a former reserve police officer in that town, served in the Korean War. At 86, and now suffering from dementia, it was his dying wish a few years back to be buried in the uniform, he said.

Asked what happened to his former uniform, Dupras said he did not know, but believes it was taken at a hospital.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran Gets Dying Wish To See His Horses One Last Time

UPDATE
Texas veteran dies after getting visit from beloved horses

Dying Vietnam veteran’s final wish granted
By NBC4 Staff
Published: May 23, 2016

SAN ANTONIO, TX (WCMH) – A dying Vietnam veteran’s dying wish was granted on Saturday when he was able to go outside and see his horses one last time.

Roberto Gonzales was wounded in battle on May 21, 1970.

Gonzales was paralyzed as a result of his injury, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a horse trainer.

“My husband was one of the only handicapped or paralyzed licensed horse trainers in Texas,” Rosario Gonzales told KABB.

When things took a turn for the worse during a recent hospitalization, Roberto’s dying wish was to see his horses Sugar and Ringo one last time. That wish was granted on the anniversary of his injury.
read more here