For more than 20 years, KSTZ radio station in Des Moines, Iowa has been granting Christmas wishes for listeners, but this year they received a request unlike any other.
Brenda Schmitz wrote into the station, asking them to fulfill three wishes, but there was a catch: Brenda isn’t alive.
The wife and mother to four died in August 2011, after losing a battle with ovarian cancer. Her youngest son, Max, was just two at the time. She wrote the letter one month before she passed away and entrusted it with a friend, giving specific instructions not to send it until her husband had found someone new.
That happened this past summer when her husband David proposed to Jayne Abraham, a mother of two herself.
Beyond the grave: Brenda Schmitz died two years ago, but before she did she organized an elaborate Christmas gift for her family – including her husband’s new finacee
The true meaning of the holidays: Before Brenda (center) died, she wrote a letter to a local radio station, asking them to fulfill three Christmas wishes. Her husband David is pictured on the left
Moving on: Brenda gave the letter to a friend with the instructions not to send it to the station until her husband found a new woman. Above, David is pictured with Jayne Abraham. He proposed to the mother of two this past summer
In the letter, Brenda asks the station to fulfill her last wish to do something for the new woman in her husband’s life, for her family and for the doctors and nurses who helped ease her pain.
On Friday, Brenda’s husband was brought into the station, but didn’t know what was happening until host Colleen Kelly started reading his wife’s last letter.
‘When you are in receipt of this letter, I will have already lost my battle to ovarian cancer,’ Brenda wrote. ‘I told [my friend] once my loving husband David had moved on in his life and had met someone to share his life with again, to mail this letter to all of you at the station.
Her first wish was directed at her husband’s fiance Jayne, asking that she be treated to a spa day.
‘She deserves it,’ Brenda wrote. ‘Being a step-mother to all those boys, and especially giving little Max a mother’s love that only she can give. Make her smile and know her efforts are truly appreciated from me.’
Pampering: Brenda’s first wish was that Jayne (right) be treated to a spa day, saying she deserves it with taking on the responsibility of all Brenda’s sons – including youngest Max (left)
Christmas wish: Brenda’s second wish was that her family get a vacation where they can make memories to last a lifetime. She also asked that the nurses and doctors who treated her get a dinner for helping her through her pain
‘Thank you. I love you, whoever you are,’ Brenda added.
The second wish was that her family be taken on a magical trip, somewhere they could all enjoy and make memories to last a lifetime.
Her final wish was for the nurses and doctors who took care of her in the cancer unit at Mercy Medical Center.
‘A night out full of drinks, food and fun for all they do every day for the cancer patients they encounter,’ she wrote.
Her husband David fought back tears while listening to the letter, and said he wasn’t surprised that Brenda would have organized such an elaborate gift.
‘It’s not surprising, because the last year and a half she’s shown so many signs that she’s there,’ he said, adding that he saw a double rainbow the morning after she died and that ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ was her favorite song.
Touched: David fought back tears throughout the radio segment, saying he wasn’t surprised his wife would have organized such an elaborate Christmas gift even after her death
‘There was no question that we were going to do something for this wish,’ station manager Scott Allen told the Des Moines Register. ‘It was what could we do that would be deserving of Brenda’s name and memory.’
With the help of sponsors, the station was able to grant all three of Brenda’s wishes.
The family of eight will be treated to a vacation at Walt Disney World in Florida where Jayne will relax with a spa day.
As for the nurses and doctors at Mercy Medical Center, they’ll get get three coordinated food drops provided by a local catering company.
Wish come true: The station got sponsors to grant all three of Brenda’s wishes. The Schmitz family will be treated with a Disney World vacation, where Jayne will also receive a day at the spa
Read more: Daily Mail
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