By EMS1 Staff
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A nurse is credited with granting a cancer patient’s final wish to fly in a plane after she sought a pilot to fulfill the dream on Facebook.
USA Today reported that Norton Hospital oncology nurse Tracey Hoffman posted on Facebook that Joe Booth, a patient with prostate cancer, had a dying wish to fly in a plane for the first time.
“Here we are talking about the end of his life and he’s thinking about how he had never been in an airplane,” Hoffman said. “I decided to put it on social media ... my phone started to explode.”
Hoffman said 25 pilots responded to her Facebook post and volunteered to fly Booth, and the wish was granted.
Booth, who was told to stop taking his medication in February after a two-year fight with cancer, has inspired Hoffman as a nurse through his positivity.
“He has a lot of pain, but he doesn’t complain about it,” Hoffman said. “He’s trying to make the most of the time he has left. That’s something we should all do.”
Booth was flown across flooding from the Ohio River that occurred the day before, as well as the auto mechanic store where he worked.
“It was priceless,” Booth’s son, Brian, said. “He has never done anything like that. He actually took the steering wheel and flew for a bit. To me, it was nice to see, to him it was great.”