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Garth Brooks makes dying teen's dream come true
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Jul. 28, 2003 12:00 AM
The tenacity of a Make-a-Wish volunteer in California made the wish of a dying 18-year-old cancer patient come true - with a little help from Garth Brooks.
Renee Lee wanted to meet the country superstar, and volunteer Wendy Quinn was determined to make that happen, Launch.com reports.
After pursuing the normal channels and learning that Brooks could not immediately meet with Lee, of Santa Rosa, Calif., Quinn started an e-mail campaign to Nashville news anchors. An anchor at the CBS affiliate passed the message on to Brooks' former publicist, who got it to Brooks.
The next day, Brooks sent his personal jet to pick up Lee and her family and take them to Las Vegas, where he was participating in a charity fund-raiser. Lee and her family spent the day with Brooks and his girlfriend, country singer Trisha Yearwood, and were given prime seats at the benefit concert.
Lee died a week later, on July 20.
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Garth Brooks makes dying teen's dream come true
advertisement
Jul. 28, 2003 12:00 AM
The tenacity of a Make-a-Wish volunteer in California made the wish of a dying 18-year-old cancer patient come true - with a little help from Garth Brooks.
Renee Lee wanted to meet the country superstar, and volunteer Wendy Quinn was determined to make that happen, Launch.com reports.
After pursuing the normal channels and learning that Brooks could not immediately meet with Lee, of Santa Rosa, Calif., Quinn started an e-mail campaign to Nashville news anchors. An anchor at the CBS affiliate passed the message on to Brooks' former publicist, who got it to Brooks.
The next day, Brooks sent his personal jet to pick up Lee and her family and take them to Las Vegas, where he was participating in a charity fund-raiser. Lee and her family spent the day with Brooks and his girlfriend, country singer Trisha Yearwood, and were given prime seats at the benefit concert.
Lee died a week later, on July 20.
wow, that brough a tear to my eye...
Mike
__________________ "Pop Critics - Movies, TV, Music, Books" - http://www.popcritics.com
Total Rainfall at Chandler Mike's in 2008: 7.55 inches (as of 11/27/08)
Nice story. Below is the original column that was in the Nashville paper on Friday.
Quote:
No publicists, no cameras, no reporters
Here's a story of persistence, unexpected, unbridled generosity and — shriek! — a kind-hearted journalist?
Earlier this month, a California-based Make-A-Wish volunteer was working with a sweet cancer patient, Renee Lee, 18, a community activist/volunteer in Santa Rosa, Calif., whose only dying wish was to meet Garth Brooks.
Volunteer Wendy Quinn went through traditional avenues, but ''official'' word from the Garth camp was that he couldn't immediately meet Renee. Wendy, who grew to love Renee, simply couldn't call and tell her that news.
So, thinking Garth might still live here, Wendy e-mailed every Nashville news anchor whose e-mail address she could find, asking them: Do you know Garth or can you get me in touch with him?
One of those e-mails got to NewsChannel 5 personality Harry Chapman, who passed it on to Garth's old Nashville publicist, Karen Byrd, who passed it on to Garth's peeps.
ONE DAY LATER, Garth sent his personal jet to pick up Renee and her family to take them to a Garth dinner-show in Las Vegas, a fund-raiser for a children's charity.
Garth and his lady, Trisha Yearwood, spent lots of time with Renee during the day and gave her great seats for the nighttime show.
''It made the end of her life so much happier,'' Wendy told me.
About a week later, Renee died. Her funeral was Wednesday, and there were flowers from Garth and Trisha.
Harry Chapman played a small but important part in the process, and he was moved when he got an e-mail saying Renee had passed away.
''I cried,'' he said. ''I cried to know that little girl got her wish before she died.''
For the record, neither Garth nor his reps, nor Harry, ever sought any kind of publicity for the kindness. We found out about this one on our own.
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