Dolly Parton really is a Christmas angel. The icon took time out of the pre-holiday rush for a call with a lifelong fan who’s battling cancer to fulfill the man’s bucket list wish.
Utah resident LeGrand Gold, who goes by LG, was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer two years ago. He and his wife, Alice, created a bucket list — or “list of living,” as was scribed on the napkin — to keep his spirits up; at No. 7 was “Meet Dolly Parton.” “I thought, ‘Well, it’s never going to happen,’” Gold told local NCB affiliate KSL.
However, after a story about his wish went viral following a devastating turn in his diagnosis, Parton indeed helped Gold cross another item off his bucket list.
“I’m just happy that we got to kind of have our journey together in this lifetime,” Parton told Gold over the phone. “I always want to make people happy with my music and with the things I do and the things I say and I’m just happy to know that I’ve touched your life in some way. So thank you for honoring me with that.”
After speaking with Gold for four minutes, Parton signed off by serenading him with a reworded snippet of one of her classic songs: “And I will always love you/ I will always love LG.”
“She sang me a song, put my name in the song,” he said (via Billboard). “I feel like I’m immortal now.”
Watch video of the full phone call below. The Gold family is still taking donations via a GoFundMe page to help pay medical expenses, student loans, and bills.
Parton recently released her latest album, Rockstar, earning her her highest chart placement with a No. 3 debut. She discussed the record, her career, and more in conversation with Paramore’s Hayley Williams for the latest Consequence Cover Story.
