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News We Love: Pittsburgh cookie community comes together to fulfill Yinzer’s final Christmas wish

‘If only I could have one more bite of kolache, I could die a happy man'

News We Love: Pittsburgh cookie community comes together to fulfill Yinzer’s final Christmas wish

‘If only I could have one more bite of kolache, I could die a happy man'

KOLACHE COMING AND HE SAID, IS IT FROM PITTSBURGH? AND THAT WAS HIS CONCERN TONIGHT, AN 80 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CALLED THE PITTSBURGH AREA HOME FOR MUCH OF HIS LIFE IS NOW NEARING THE END OF HIS THREE YEAR BATTLE WITH CANCER. HE LIVES IN ALABAMA NOW, BUT HIS FINAL WISH, THE PITTSBURGH CLASSIC, A NUT ROLL ONLY ON FOR TONIGHT. REPORTER KALEA GUNDERSON IS IN MONONGAHELA WITH A LOOK AT THE OVERWHELMING ACTS OF GENEROSITY FROM PITTSBURGHERS TO HONOR A FELLOW YINZER A YINZER AT HIS CORE, 80 YEAR OLD JIM HAZLETT, LIVING IN OVERTIME, HIS DAUGHTER, JILL BENEFIELD, EXPECTED TO SAY GOODBYE TO HER DAD DAYS AGO AFTER A THREE YEAR BATTLE WITH CANCER. WE GOT A CALL LAST A WEEK AGO THAT HE WAS PROBABLY NOT GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE WEEKEND, AND SO WE FLEW HIS GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER DOWN THERE. SHE’S THREE YEARS OLD AND I KID YOU NOT, WITHIN ABOUT TWO HOURS OF HER BEING HERE OR THERE, THE DOCTOR SAID THEY COULDN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED. IT WAS JUST A REMARKABLE IMPROVEMENT. AND HE’S STILL HERE. JILL SPEAKING TO ME FROM ALABAMA, WHERE SHE AND HER DAD NOW LIVE. HIS DOCTORS SAY HE MIGHT EVEN LIVE TO SEE 2025. AND HE’S GOT AN APPETITE. HE CRIED LIKE A BABY LAST NIGHT AND SAID, IF ONLY I COULD HAVE ONE MORE BITE OF KOLACHE I COULD DIE A HAPPY MAN. KOLACHE OR WHAT MANY CALL NUT ROLL. JILL WENT STRAIGHT TO THE EXPERTS. THE WEDDING COOKIE TABLE COMMUNITY, A GROUP OF MORE THAN 338,000 PEOPLE WHO CELEBRATE THE COOKIE TABLE TRADITION. LAURA MCGEOWN IN MONONGAHELA, WASHINGTON COUNTY, GOT JILL’S REQUEST LATE THURSDAY NIGHT. I THOUGHT, THIS IS REALLY SPECIAL. THIS REALLY TUGS AT YOUR HEART THAT SOMEONE HAS HER DAD IN HIS FINAL DAYS. HIS LAST WISH IS TO HAVE A NUT ROLL AND SHE’S COME TO US TO ASK, NOT KNOWING HOW MUCH TIME JIM HAS LEFT THE PEOPLE OF THIS ONLINE COMMUNITY WENT TO WORK. SO IT STARTED OFF WITH SEVERAL PEOPLE OFFERING TO SEND ONE NUT ROLL, BUT OUR GROUP TENDS TO GO OVERBOARD. JUST A FEW MILES AWAY, NANCY IS PREPARING A SHIPMENT OF COOKIES FOR JIM. OH, WE GOT A FEW MORE TO GO, AND ONE OF NANCY’S SPECIALTIES. NUT ROLL. WHAT JIM WAS ASKING FOR. AND THIS IS JUST ONE THAT WILL BE HEADING DOWN TO ALABAMA. EVERYTHING JIM’S FAMILY NEEDS TO SET UP AND DECORATE THE BEST COOKIE TABLE HE HAS EVER SEEN IS IN THE MAIL. THE COOKIES AND NUT ROLLS ARE BEING OVERNIGHTED. ALL I TOLD HIM WAS HE HAD A KOLACHE COMING AND HE SAID, IS IT FROM PITTSBURGH? AND THAT WAS HIS CONCERN, THE KINDNESS OF PITTSBURGHERS AND COOKIE LOVERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, BRINGING OUT A SIDE OF JIM IN HIS FINAL DAYS THAT HIS DAUGHTER THOUGHT WAS IN THE PAST. I SAW MY DAD GO FROM A DYING, SCARED, SAD, BUT GRATEFUL MAN TO TO ME, WHAT LOOKED LIKE A SEVEN YEAR OLD KID WAITING ON SANTA CLAUS, A TASTE OF HIS CHILDHOOD AND THE LIFE HE HAD IN PITTSBURGH FOR JIM’S FINAL CHRISTMAS, PLEASE TELL THESE BAKERS THAT THEY ARE DOING FOR ME. WHAT? MY MOM CAN’T BE HERE TO DO HERSELF IN MONONGAHELA KALEA GU
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News We Love: Pittsburgh cookie community comes together to fulfill Yinzer’s final Christmas wish

‘If only I could have one more bite of kolache, I could die a happy man'

An 80-year-old man who called the Pittsburgh area home for much of his life is now nearing the end of a three-year cancer diagnosis. His final request? A nut roll from Pittsburgh.See the heartwarming story in the video aboveJim Hazlett lives in Alabama, where his daughter Jill Benefield and her family are caring for Jim in his final days.Benefield said she expected to say goodbye to her dad days ago.“We got a call a week ago that he was probably not going to make it through the weekend, and so we flew his great-granddaughter down there. She's 3 years old, and — I kid you not — within about two hours of her being there, the doctor said they couldn't understand what happened. It was just a remarkable improvement,” Benefield said.Jim’s doctors said he might even live to see 2025.Benefield said she’s amazed that he’s still here, and he still has an appetite for his nostalgic favorites.“He cried like a baby last night and said, ‘If only I could have one more bite of kolache, I could die a happy man,’” Benefield said.Kolache, Jim’s favorite dessert, is what many call nut roll. Jill went straight to the experts, "The Wedding Cookie Table Community," a Facebook group of more than 338,000 people who celebrate the cookie table tradition.Laura Magone, in Monongahela, Washington County, got Jill’s request late Thursday night. “I thought, ‘This is really special.' This really tugs at your heart that someone has her dad in his final days. His last wish is to have a nut roll, and she's come to us to ask,” Magone said.Not knowing how much time Jim has left, the people of this online community went to work.“So, it started off with several people offering to send one nut roll, but our group tends to go overboard,” Magone said.Everything Jim’s family needs to set up and decorate the cookie table of the year is in the mail. The cookies and nut rolls are being overnighted.“All I told him was he had a kolache coming, and he said, ‘Is it from Pittsburgh?’ And that was his concern,” Benefield said.The kindness of Pittsburghers and cookie lovers across the country is bringing out a side of Jim in his final days that his daughter thought was in the past.“I saw my dad go from a dying, scared, sad, but grateful man, to, to me, what looked like a 7-year-old kid waiting on Santa Claus.”A taste of his childhood and the life he had in Pittsburgh — Jim’s final Christmas gift.“He said, ‘Please tell these bakers that they are doing for me what my mom can't be here to do herself,’” Benefield said.Benefield said she’s exchanged messages with people who are sending cookies and nut rolls and one mother in particular who she wants people to say a prayer for.“There's a woman that said she's going to send cookies to my dad in her son Jimmy's honor, and her son Jimmy is serving overseas,” Benefield said. Benefield said her dad was fortunate to reconnect with a close friend from his past and find love late in his life. Sadly, she said the woman is in poor health as well and can’t visit Jim in Alabama. “Karen's also sick with leukemia, and as a result, she's not able to travel or be around people in large groups at all. So what that means to me is Karen is also going to be home all alone on Christmas,” Benefield said. “If there's anybody out there that can take just a spare, a few moments, just to maybe drop by and leave her a card and maybe just a paper plate of just a nice home-cooked Christmas meal. My dad … I think that would be the greatest gift anyone could give him.”Benefield asked that if anyone is interested in reaching out to Karen, that they contact her.

An 80-year-old man who called the Pittsburgh area home for much of his life is now nearing the end of a three-year cancer diagnosis. His final request? A nut roll from Pittsburgh.

See the heartwarming story in the video above

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Jim Hazlett lives in Alabama, where his daughter Jill Benefield and her family are caring for Jim in his final days.

Benefield said she expected to say goodbye to her dad days ago.

“We got a call a week ago that he was probably not going to make it through the weekend, and so we flew his great-granddaughter down there. She's 3 years old, and — I kid you not — within about two hours of her being there, the doctor said they couldn't understand what happened. It was just a remarkable improvement,” Benefield said.

Jim’s doctors said he might even live to see 2025.

Benefield said she’s amazed that he’s still here, and he still has an appetite for his nostalgic favorites.

“He cried like a baby last night and said, ‘If only I could have one more bite of kolache, I could die a happy man,’” Benefield said.

Kolache, Jim’s favorite dessert, is what many call nut roll. Jill went straight to the experts, "The Wedding Cookie Table Community," a Facebook group of more than 338,000 people who celebrate the cookie table tradition.

Laura Magone, in Monongahela, Washington County, got Jill’s request late Thursday night.

“I thought, ‘This is really special.' This really tugs at your heart that someone has her dad in his final days. His last wish is to have a nut roll, and she's come to us to ask,” Magone said.

Not knowing how much time Jim has left, the people of this online community went to work.

“So, it started off with several people offering to send one nut roll, but our group tends to go overboard,” Magone said.

Everything Jim’s family needs to set up and decorate the cookie table of the year is in the mail. The cookies and nut rolls are being overnighted.

“All I told him was he had a kolache coming, and he said, ‘Is it from Pittsburgh?’ And that was his concern,” Benefield said.

The kindness of Pittsburghers and cookie lovers across the country is bringing out a side of Jim in his final days that his daughter thought was in the past.

“I saw my dad go from a dying, scared, sad, but grateful man, to, to me, what looked like a 7-year-old kid waiting on Santa Claus.”

A taste of his childhood and the life he had in Pittsburgh — Jim’s final Christmas gift.

“He said, ‘Please tell these bakers that they are doing for me what my mom can't be here to do herself,’” Benefield said.

Benefield said she’s exchanged messages with people who are sending cookies and nut rolls and one mother in particular who she wants people to say a prayer for.

“There's a woman that said she's going to send cookies to my dad in her son Jimmy's honor, and her son Jimmy is serving overseas,” Benefield said.

Benefield said her dad was fortunate to reconnect with a close friend from his past and find love late in his life. Sadly, she said the woman is in poor health as well and can’t visit Jim in Alabama.

“Karen's also sick with leukemia, and as a result, she's not able to travel or be around people in large groups at all. So what that means to me is Karen is also going to be home all alone on Christmas,” Benefield said. “If there's anybody out there that can take just a spare, a few moments, just to maybe drop by and leave her a card and maybe just a paper plate of just a nice home-cooked Christmas meal. My dad … I think that would be the greatest gift anyone could give him.”

Benefield asked that if anyone is interested in reaching out to Karen, that they contact her.