Time is the ultimate enemy of anyone who is in hospice care because it means that they only have less than six months left to live. That means their time is running out and they will soon be leaving their loved ones and friends anytime soon.

Thankfully, hospice aides or home health aides are there to help them with both their medical and personal tasks. Just like this dying father who had one final request – to watch his beloved son play football one last time.

Scott Sullivan and his journey to turning his dying wish into a reality.

Sullivan was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. It’s a type of disease that spreads to the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. According to the National Institutes of Health, people who have this type of cancer only have two to four months, regardless of whether the person is undergoing treatment.

They found out about Scott’s condition when he was admitted to the hospital due to abnormal lab results. After the diagnosis, the doctors immediately discharged him to the Hospice of Lake Cumberland and gave him an ultimatum of only five weeks left to live.

It was never easy to have a deadline in life, however, Scott refused to just sit and wait for his time. So, he decided to make the most out of his remaining days. He made his one last wish before he goes and that was to watch his son, Cade Sullivan, play the first football game of his second year at Pulaski County High School.

To make his wish possible, he told hospice nurse, Jerree Humphrey, about his plan and asked if she could make it happen.

Scott and Jerree became close friends because they have something in common, both of them had teenage children who were playing sports at rival schools. Thinking about her patient and friend’s dying wish, she knew the travel could possibly put Scott at risk simply because of his health condition.

The first football game of the season was about to commence in Belfry and that’s a three-and-half-hour drive away from the hospice facility. The then 50-year-old man even thought about driving all the way there by himself.

“I thought you know you’re talking seven or eight hours in the car and I said I don’t know how safe that would be or how realistic,” Jerree told CNN.

Jerree knew how important Scott’s wish was, she’d been working in the hospice care facility for quite a while and it’s hard to decline a thoughtful dying wish like Scott’s. She decided to go the extra mile to make it possible, so, she reached out to a nearby airport and tried to ask them if she could charter a small plane.

Thankfully, she received a response in just a matter of days.

Hearing Scott’s story, local dentist and pilot, Dr. Denny Brummett, decided to fly the thoughtful father using his private aircraft.

The positive result of Jerree’s efforts made him the happiest man alive at that moment.

On September 11, 2022, Jerree, Dr. Brummett, Scott, and his partner Kristi Harrison, all boarded a private plane and flew 200 miles so the terminally ill man could catch his son’s first game as a sophomore.

When Cade saw his dad from the spectating crowd, he quickly dashed up to him and greeted Scott with a warm hug. The father and son shared the short while that they had and suddenly, it’s raining tears.

Scott was thankful for what they’d done to fulfill his final wish.

“Words could not be put into sentences or phrases to describe how I felt at that time,” the father said. “I was just so happy to see my son.”

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“You could just not help but cry,” Jerree said. “He just embraced him so hard and was just so thankful for him to be there.”

Hopefully, that wasn’t Scott and Cade’s last moment together. Kudos to Jerree and everyone who made Scott’s wish possible.

What really happens inside a hospice care facility? Watch the video below to find out.

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Source: Positive Outlooks, Facebook – Hospice of Lake Cumberland