Terminal illnesses are tough to talk about, and can definitely bring about feelings of sorrow and hopelessness.
But even these powerful illnesses have produced some wonderful news in the form of kind gestures, like when this grandpa took his granddaughter with Juvenile Batten Disease to prom.
This was the case for Debbie Hall, who has worked in Davis High School's counseling registrar department for 19 years.
All of her time at the school clearly made an amazing impression, because her fellow faculty members, as well as the students, rallied around her once they had heard that she was ill.
Having been diagnosed with terminal ALS, Hall was eager to begin checking things off of her bucket list — the number one item being a trip to beautiful Hawaii!
So the school got to raising money in order to make her travel dreams a reality — check below to learn about their sweet gesture.
[H/T: ABC News]
Davis High School faculty member Debbie Hall was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease several weeks ago.
ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes neurons that control the muscles to die.
Hall's diagnosis is terminal and she desperately wanted to complete the #1 goal on her bucket list; visiting Hawaii.
And, having heard about her diagnosis, her school rallied to make her travel wishes come true, by raising over $18,000 to send she and her family to the island of Oahu.
She has worked at the schools counseling registrar department for 19 years, and is beloved by school and faculty.
"We have 2,700 students she greets them all," describes her coworker Robyn Lawson to ABC News. "She pretty much knows every student in the school. We call her the Google of the school, jokingly, because she knows everything. She has a great memory. They love her. She's very patient and kind. I've never seen her upset or frazzled."
So its no wonder why the staff and students would want to rally around her, and set up a Gofundme account in order to make her Hawaii dreams a reality.
"One of the sweetest things was that a lot of students that donated five, 10, 20 even 50 dollars towards her," said Lawson.
And in addition to the wonderful Hawaii trip, the school also raised enough money to send Hall, her husband Dave, five children, and 10 grandchildren to Disneyland!
Because of all the support from her school, Hall will be able to have her dream trip, while spending valuable time with her family.
There is currently no known cure for ALS, though testing and research to know more about it continues.
Plenty of resources for fundraising and support are available, check some of them out if you would like to get involved!
If you want to spread awareness about people like Debbie with ALS, make sure to SHARE with friends and family on Facebook.
