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  • David, thanks for coming down. We've got a very special Christmas wish for you.

  • You lost your wife, Brenda, a couple years ago to cancer.

  • Oh!

  • In January of 2011, she found out she had stage four ovarian cancer.

  • Oh, that's very sad.

  • -And passed away. -That's intense.

  • Your recently got engaged?

  • - Yeah she has two kids. -I know this story.

  • I mean, I basically, you know, have four boys.

  • Had four boys, I mean, you know, a step son and three of my own.

  • We told you we've got a very special Christmas wish.

  • Recently, we received a letter from one of Brenda, your first wife's friends.

  • And so, Colene has that letter and she's going to read you this letter from your wife Brenda.

  • Oh my.

  • A lot of information's public.

  • "Hello, my name is Brenda Schmidt.

  • When you are in receipt of this letter, I will have already lost my battle to ovarian cancer.

  • Once my loving husband David has moved on in his life

  • And has met someone to share his life with again,

  • -Oh, bless her. Bless her. - to mail this letter to all of you at the station.

  • We have four boys: Carter, Josh, Justin, and my little Max.

  • Wow.

  • -No child as young as Max should lose his mother..." -Ugh, it's just painful.

  • "I have a wish for David, the boys...

  • ..and the woman and her family if she has kids also.

  • First for David's new lifelong partner. A weekend of pampering in all aspects of her life.

  • Make her smile and know her efforts are truly appreciated from me."

  • God, it chokes you up there.

  • - "For the family, a magical trip... -Hard to watch.

  • .. where they can all enjoy their company

  • And companionship as a family and create those memories that will be with them forever.

  • Finally, the cancer doctors at Mercy Hospital and nurses of Eighth South.

  • -A night out full of drinks, food and fun... -God. God.

  • ..for all they do everyday for the cancer patients they encounter.

  • When you wish upon a star, Brenda."

  • Incredible wife he had.

  • That's got to be really hard for him.

  • It's emotional to listen to it.

  • -What do you think? - Yeah, what do you think? God.

  • It's not surprising cause she's--

  • the last year and a half she saw so many signs that she's there.

  • We want to grant Brenda's wish.

  • Huh.

  • We are going to send you and your family on a magical vacation for eight to Disney World.

  • Oh, that's wonderful.

  • And just as Brenda wished, Jane will be pampered with a relaxing massage.

  • Three coordinated food drops will be made on behalf

  • of Brenda for all the care, comforting and hard work over at Mercy.

  • Makes me, makes me wish I had known this woman.

  • -All the best moving forward. -Thank you, I'm in shock.

  • Quite a Christmas present.

  • That's great what they did for him.

  • One little letter can change how you look at the whole world.

  • You know, when I first read about this, it made me cry. This is worse, seeing it.

  • Heavy.

  • All the things that we go around saying, that we don't mean to say,

  • we say them anyway.

  • We hurt other people or whatever.

  • And then there's somebody like this, Brenda,

  • that comes along and reminds us who we really should be.

  • Who we really are.

  • Thanks guys, thanks for making me cry.

  • (Finebros) So how does it make you feel after you watch something like that?

  • Overall and ultimately, it makes me feel very very good about people.

  • It's sad, but at the same time it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

  • It makes me wonder if I could be that big.

  • It humbles me. It really humbles me.

  • For me, it brought back certain loses in my life.

  • Well, I think we can all relate.

  • When I was 15, I lost my own mother to cancer.

  • I know what it's like to lose a mom when you're fifteen years old.

  • Because my mom was the kind of mom that we were not just mother/daughter, but good pals.

  • She was wonderfully outgoing and I think a lot of my personality comes from her.

  • (Finebros) What do you think of Brenda, the wife and mother who passed away

  • just deciding to do this years later for her husband and family?

  • It was a wonderful gesture.

  • She had to really be something to write that letter.

  • This is a holy woman. This is a woman with an unique soul.

  • I think that just shows such love for the family.

  • What amazes me the most is that she could be so aware of, you know, down the road.

  • Wanting something for him.

  • That's pretty extraordinary. That's a lot of forethought.

  • Even the girl reading it had a hard time reading it, because who would not be touched

  • By that kind of emotion, and that kind of, you know, circumstance.

  • That's pretty amazing.

  • (Finebros) How do you think David's new wife, Jane,

  • feels getting these words of encouragement from the previous wife?

  • Well that's a tough one because women could either be like,

  • "Excuse me? It's my turn now."

  • I'm sure she was very touched.

  • Everybody's going to be happier to have another person involved.

  • It's hard to be a single parent and be dealing with kids and all, you know?

  • It's hard to have two parents and be dealing with kids.

  • (Finebros) So, this story has gone viral and has been on television news even.

  • (Finebros) What do you think it is that is connecting with people

  • so universally that this is being shared so much?

  • Love, it's just love.

  • Everyone shares death.

  • I think the humanity of it all, you know, of a radio doing this for a stranger.

  • The bottom line is there's plenty of love in this world.

  • We complain about this earth, but it's a pretty good life.

  • I think it's honestly that feeling of "Could I be that generous?"

  • "Could I be that loving? Could I be that welcoming to someone?"

  • "Could I face death that well?"

  • It appeals to people because it makes you reflect.

  • Seeing this gives them permission to let out their emotions and to not hide so much.

  • Dear goodness, we hide too much of our goodness.

  • If you love somebody, tell them that you love them.

  • And then this time of the year is evocative of that.

  • (Finebros) This video and story is very universally loved,

  • but there have been some people criticizing it...

  • (Finebros) Saying that they feel that it might not have been right

  • for the deceased wife to do something like this right when he moved on...

  • (Finebros) That it could be manipulative or rehash old memories.

  • What do you think of that criticism?

  • Haters are haters.

  • You can't put something like that together if you've got a bad bone in your body.

  • I'm sorry, you just can't pull that off.

  • Could be, and there's the conflict there.

  • I thought about that, and I guess so, people do think about it.

  • But to call it manipulative, you've got to get into someone's mind.

  • Everybody's different and she thought that was the right thing to do.

  • And who are we, you know, to sit and criticize.

  • (Finebros) Can we talk about how your view of life and death changes as you become older?

  • Well, when you're young, you just don't think there's anything like death around.

  • It's not going to happen to you.

  • When you're younger, it's like it's somewhere in the distance.

  • Never really even think about it.

  • As you get older, it's like, it could be right around the corner.

  • Mortality never hit me until I was in the 50's.

  • That's why these young kids, mortality doesn't strike them.

  • But that's why ObamaCare is in trouble.

  • Health insurance? Hell no, I'm gonna live forever.

  • When you get to the age when the first person passes away,

  • whether it's a friend or a relative.

  • I was hit hard. I lost almost all immediate family within like two to three years.

  • Or whether it's a rap star, or rock star or celebrity that you identify with.

  • It all of the sudden changes your perception.

  • It's getting to the point now where I'm gonna,

  • we've talked about it with the other elders I know...

  • And my friends and stuff, that we're going to start losing each other in the next few years.

  • Which is going to be very hard. But there's nothing we can do about that.

  • It's a beautiful and wonderful day, and I'm still here and it beats not being here.

  • (Finebros) What's something that you wish you could tell yourself when you were younger...

  • ..or tell young people today that they should be more aware of?

  • I think the most important thing is to start reflecting really early.

  • Don't worry over little things.

  • Learn at an early age not to be a hoarder or a clutter-er.

  • The best times that you have are with your family or with your friends

  • when you don't even have to be successful, it just has to be.

  • All the problems, and all the bad stuff somehow works itself out.

  • It might take longer than you want,

  • but it works itself out, so just move on to something new.

  • (Finebros) So, back to this video, the radio station, every year, has this Christmas wish

  • (Finebros) Where they and local businesses pend money to grant these wishes for people.

  • (Finebros) What do you think about the station for doing that?

  • It think that's pretty good.

  • I think that's very nice for the station to do something like that.

  • Their hearts are in the right place. They scored high.

  • I think the more of that, the better. The more the merrier.

  • We all ought to work on granting people wishes.

  • I think, you know, you feel very good when you do that.

  • And I'm sure it gets the radio station good PR.

  • (Finebros) And finally what do you want to say to this family after now knowing their story,

  • if they end up coming across this video?

  • Thank you for sharing it, and God bless you.

  • Good luck with the new marriage and I hope everything works out wonderfully

  • And you have a nice new family.

  • Stay positive in all their thinking

  • Because then they will be able to branch out and do the same thing that she did to help others.

  • Giving is a great thing.

  • You don't have to worry about receiving, it's going to happen anyway.

  • Karma is karma.

  • I would hope that as each of those children grow older,

  • that they become like a bit of their parents.

  • And carry that on to their children and on to other people.

  • Remember yesterday is a memory and tomorrow is a dream.

  • Today is your gift and that's why they call it "present". Live today.

David, thanks for coming down. We've got a very special Christmas wish for you.

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