OREM, Utah — Dolly Parton gave a Utah man who has been given only a few months to live something he's always wanted: a chance to meet her.
KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah met with LeGrand Gold before Christmas. KSL reported LeGrand, nicknamed "LG" for short, has been battling stage four colorectal cancer for the last two years and now has only several months to live after chemotherapy and radiation treatment stopped working. His cancer has spread, so now he is entering hospice care.
His wife, Alice Gold, said LG grew up in Tennessee and was a fan of Dolly. The two raised their five kids on her Imagination Library books and visited Dollywood in Pigeon Forge when they could make the trip.
Alice came up with an idea to cheer him up a little. They began working on a bucket list which they called "LG's List of Living."
“He was going through a really kind of down phase of just over everything,” Alice said. “So just got out the napkin and started saying, ‘What do you want to do? What do you want to do before you die?'”
One of the items on the list: meet Dolly Parton.
“I thought, ‘Well, it’s never going to happen,” LG said.
On Friday, he received a call from a Tennessee area code.
"And so when Alice answered the phone, it was her."
LG was glowing as Dolly spoke with him. He said he couldn't believe it.
"Just know that I will always love you. Okay. Well, I should have sung that, shouldn't I have?" Dolly said before singing to him. "I just hope this lifts your spirits a little bit. Thank you for letting me be your traveling companion and I'll continue to travel on with you. How's that, LG?"
LG said he is unsure how much time he has left, so he was incredibly thankful that Dolly took the time to grant a wish he never expected would come true.
“She sang me a song, put my name in the song,” LG said. “I feel like I’m immortal now.”