Thursday, September 9, 2010

Dwight Howard, a Christian NBA player, blesses terminally-ill lady

Heart-warming story of how God wants to love people through Christians.

from:

Her bucket list included just one item.

Kay Kellogg didn't want to climb the Eiffel Tower. Or run a marathon. Or jump out of an airplane. She just wanted to have a nice conversation with her hero.

" Dwight Howard is just such a precious, wonderful kid," she says. "Whenever I watch him play, he just makes me feel good inside."
And for a woman who feels so bad inside most of the time, this is quite an accomplishment for Dwight.

You think leading the league in rebounding and blocked shots is difficult? Try leading the cancer ward in smiles elicited and hearts warmed.

Kay, 62, is sitting at her apartment Tuesday telling her story.

She's just finished yet another round of chemo. In her younger days, she was a ballet dancer, gracefully spinning and twirling as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. Now, she slowly gets around with a walker.

She has Stage 3 Multiple Myeloma, an aggressive cancer that searches out and destroys the blood plasma in the bone marrow. Her disease is inoperable and incurable, but her demeanor is inspiriting and uplifting.

She lives on a fixed income, but two seasons ago she decided to treat herself to Magic season tickets in the upper level. Watching Dwight play is one of the joys of her life. She showed up at nearly every game that season wearing her blue No. 12 Dwight jersey.

"I was sitting way up in the cheap seats," she says, "but I felt like I was in heaven."

A few weeks ago, her daughter, Arian Clute, had an idea. She contacted the Magic and told them that her mother had but one wish before she died: She wanted to meet Dwight.

And, so, a few days ago, Dwight showed up at her door step. He was supposed to spend 30 minutes and ended up staying nearly two hours.

"He has become my 7- foot-tall bottle of medicine," Kay says

They laughed and talked and talked and laughed.

They talked about love and life — and death and divinity.

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