Mom with terminal illness posted a wish asking for special last Christmas—strangers’ response soon left her mailbox overflowing
Sometimes, a community might surprise a person with its love and thoughtfulness. A mom of three, who had been told that this was probably her last Christmas, had a special request from her community, too. The woman, Clare Jones, shared her news on Facebook and hoped that people could help her make her Christmas special. Jones pointed out that she was a simple person and would love to receive Christmas cards from people. However, she was not expecting the kind of response she got, per the BBC.
"After finding out last week that this is probably going to be my last Christmas, I am looking for ways to make it super special!" Clare wrote in the post. "I’m a simple person who likes simple things." She shared that she loved Christmas cards and would love to have loads of them this year. "So I'm asking you kindly, when you are doing your cards, could you pop an extra one in the post for me?" The woman also shared her address in the post. Nonetheless, Clare was not expecting more than 10 to 15 extra cards, per the BBC. So she was obviously shocked when thousands of people reached out to her with cards and good wishes. Many people had also shared caravan holidays, theatre tickets, chocolates, flowers and more.
Clare had been diagnosed with bowel cancer back in May 2022. She underwent surgery to remove an 18-inch tumor after that. But a year later, she was told that her cancer had spread and had reached stage four. The 47-year-old had been receiving chemotherapy to shrink her tumors ever since then. But this November, her doctors told her that chemotherapy had stopped working for her. She was given 10 months to live and realized that this could be her last Christmas. The holiday had always been a big deal for Clare, so she hoped to do something special. She was a little skeptical about the Facebook post at first, but decided to go ahead and do it anyway. The response proved that she did the right thing.
The woman had received cards from all around the world. She was happy to read those cards with her children and other family members. "A simple card with a simple message has really made our Christmas, all of us." She added, "There has just been so much to read. The love has been amazing... genuine love." Clare expressed that the news had been particularly hard for her three children, who are 22, 20 and 16. The woman had raised them by herself and all of them were still at home with her. So she was really worried about leaving them behind following the news. "How do you tell them that? My daughter doesn't believe it."
She hoped to spend quality time with her family this Christmas by going on a caravan holiday and going to the theatre. "I didn't want to dampen Christmas with it being my last one, spending that Christmas being upset, but it's hard not to." She continued, "I want to spend what time I've got left with family." Clare was also overwhelmed by the love people had shown her. "It's been crazy, how nice people can be." She hoped to respond to all the people who had sent her the cards. "I want to respond to everybody; everyone has been so kind."