Dolly Parton helped one fan with terminal cancer check an item off of his bucket list this holiday season, participating in a phone call with Utah resident LeGrand Gold. Gold was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer in 2021, and as a lifelong fan of Parton’s, one of his bucket list items included meeting the singer.
Dolly Parton Fulfills Fan’s Dying Bucket List Wish For Christmas
On Friday (Dec. 22), Parton surprised Gold with a phone call, during which Parton greets him as LG and calls herself “Dolly P.”
“I’m just happy to know that I’ve got a fan that devoted and that I’ve had a chance to watch that journey all these years,” she told him. “I’m just happy that we got to kind of have our journey together in this lifetime. I always want to make people happy with my music and with the things I do and the things I say, and I’m just happy to know that I’ve touched your life in some way. So thank you for honoring me with that.”
Gold told Parton that she has been “a huge help” amid his battle with cancer, and his wife, Alice, told Parton that their family have been season pass holders at Parton’s theme park, Dollywood, “forever” and are fans of Parton not only because of her music, but because of “the person that you are.” She also praised Parton’s Imagination Library, which gifts books to children in need.
Parton Sang “I Will Always Love You” To The Fan Named LeGrand
After wishing Gold and his family a happy holiday season, she sang a bit of one of her most famous songs after telling Gold she “will always love” him and noting, “I should’ve sung that, shouldn’t I?” She proceeded to do just that, editing the lyrics to read, “I will always love LG.”
“She sang me a song, put my name in the song,” Gold told KSL TV. “I feel like I’m immortal now.” He added that the phone call “was really cool” and “made me feel good.”
Alice told PEOPLE that her family has “been flying above the silver lining for days” after Parton’s phone call, adding, “Out of the 11 items [on the list], we thought Dolly would be the impossible, but true to Dolly form, she once again reminds the world that dreams really do come true.”
LeGrand Is Checking Off Bucket List Items Amid Battle With Stage 4 Cancer
Last year, Alice helped Gold write a bucket list, which includes 10 items she wrote down on a napkin. The list, titled “LG’s List of Living,” includes crossed-off items like going to Chicago with Alice and attending a Natalie Merchant concert and to-be-completed items like attending a March Madness game and going on a cruise to Alaska. Meeting Parton was number seven on the list.
Following his initial diagnosis, Gold’s illness spread to his lymph nodes and liver, and he was given a prognosis of less than six months to live due to liver failure in September. Three weeks ago, Gold’s doctors told him that scans showed his cancer spreading and moving outside of his liver. “They said the chemo is not working anymore, the radiation is not working anymore,” Gold, a computer programmer and father of five, told KSL. “They just sent me home and said be with your family.”
Gold and his family are still working to complete his bucket list, sharing with PEOPLE that they are planning a fake wedding in January to give their four daughters a chance to share a father-daughter dance with their dad.
