In May of 2006 our son-in-law, Jon, was in the U of W Hospital in the final months of his ten year battle with malignant melanoma.  At the time he was still active duty Coast Guard.  Someone who had connections to both the Coast Guard and the Seahawks made arrangements for the Seahawks’ then quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, to come to the hospital for a visit.

It was supposed to be a half hour photo op.  It turned into a two hour visit.  There were photos of course–with Jon, our daughter, and our grandson who was a babe in arms at the time.  There were also photos with various doctors and nurses.  Most of the time, however, Matt spent alone in the room with Jon where they talked about sports, family, and faith.  It was one of the few bright spots in Jon’s last tough months.

Two years later, shopping at the PX at Fort Lewis (It was still Fort Lewis back then!) my daughter saw that Matt and another Seahawks star were there that afternoon for a fan visit.  She put Colt on her hip and got in line.  The handlers went up and down the line saying that this was a photo op only.  No visiting.  Get in and get out.

When it was our daughter’s turn, she stepped forward and said to Matt, “I don’t know if you remember me, but…”

Matt stood up, hugged her, and said, “Of course, I remember you, and look how your baby has grown!”

Wow!  When Matt came to Jon’s hospital room, he wasn’t just going through the motions.  He didn’t phone it in.  He was there, present and involved.  Ever since that visit, our family has owed Matt Hasselbeck a huge debt of gratitude, and we’ve been doing our best to pay it back.

That’s why, several years ago, when a fan in Bellingham was in such frail condition that she couldn’t make it to a signing, Bill and I set up a separate appointment and spent an hour visiting with her in the lobby of our hotel.

It’s also why, earlier this fall on the Second Watch tour, Bonnie and I took a detour between signings and spent an hour visiting with a woman named Cindy who was in the final stages of her battle with breast cancer.  It was an interesting visit, with Bonnie’s Bernese Mountain Dog, Crackerjack, taking up a major amount of floor space in Cindy’s daughter’s family room and with Bella, in full meerkat pose, stalking the daughter’s perplexed parakeet.  (The cage protected the bird, but I’m afraid the water in the cage came to grief.)  On Saturday I heard from one of the woman’s friends, telling me that Cindy had lost her battle, but that she had spent the days and weeks after our visit telling her friends all about it.

By the way, when someone is dealing with cancer, people are often reluctant to visit because they have no idea what to say.  When we went to visit Cindy, we didn’t talk about the Big C.  Not once.  We talked about the dogs; about my books; about the traveling Cindy had done.  The point is to BE THERE!!!

All of which brings us to the middle of last week when my son, Tom, the philosopher/chef behind the blog, Romancing the Bone, sent me an e-mail asking for help.  It seems that a friend of his, Laura, has a boyfriend named Marion who is currently fighting a year long battle with glioblastoma.  It turns out Marion is a huge fan of Charlie Sheen, and Laura was hoping to set up a personal visit from Charlie.

My first thought?  Good luck with that, but with Matt Hasselbeck in my heart, I fired off an email to the FOUR Hollywood folks I have listed in my database, explaining the situation.  That is four only!  One of them, Jack Bernstein, is a retired film producer.

Jack, Bill, and another friend, Alan, a retired halibut fisherman, were beginning golfers together in the mid-nineties.  Somewhere around here there’s a poster with a photo of the Three Stooges decked out in 30s era golf attire.  That pretty well covers the reality of their golfing exploits.  Eventually Jack and Sunny left Seattle to return to southern California.

You’ve probably all heard of six degrees of separation–the idea that each person on the planet is only six people away from any other person.  When I sent those four notes off, I had no idea, not a clue, that one of Jack’s daughters has, for the past 25 years, been best friends with Charlie Sheen’s publicist. Jack got on the stick and put the wheels in motion!

On Sunday, as our family gathered at John Howie to celebrate Second Watch’s appearance on the NYTimes list, a text came on Tom’s phone telling us that at that very moment Charlie Sheen was on the phone with Marion. Not only did he call, he invited both of them to fly over from Arizona to visit him on the set of his show, throwing first class air and hotel accommodations into the bargain as well!!

As of Tuesday of this week, Charlie expanded the invitation to include Marion’s assistant/caregiver to help assist with travel logistics.  (Anyone who has ever traveled with someone who is critically ill knows what a challenge that can be for all concerned.)  They flew on Wednesday and visit the set of Anger Management today.  Laura has sent a note that their penthouse accommodations are bigger than her house.  So far it has all come off without a hitch, how amazing is that?!

All I can say is THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!  Thank you, Jack.  And a HUGE thank you to Charlie Sheen.

Charlie made the call.  Like Matt Hasselbeck, he didn’t just phone it in.  He did more than that, way more!! And now there is now a clear connection between Charlie Sheen and Matt Hasselbeck.

I can truly say, as I did at the beginning of this blog, sometimes what goes around comes around and in a very good way!