Honoring Brenden Foster's last wish
Last year we met an amazing boy named Brenden Foster. Brenden was just 11, and he was losing his battle to leukemia. But Brenden wasn't worried about dying; he was worried about the homeless going hungry.
"I was coming back from one of my clinic appointments and I saw this big thing of homeless people. And then I thought I should just get them something," he said. "They're probably starving, so give'em a chance."
Brenden died last December. And on the day he died, mother Wendy Foster's world stopped.
"It just destroyed me," she said.
Wendy couldn't even manage a simple task like making a ham and cheese sandwich.
"Because it was his favorite," she said, "because it hurt so much that he wasn't there to enjoy it."
Nearly a year has passed since, and Wendy is back, making sandwiches for the homeless in order to keep her son's last wish alive.
"Brenden's wish was that we take care of each other," she said.
In his final days, the bed-bound boy was too sick to feed the hungry himself. So volunteers delivered sandwiches to the hungry on his behalf.
Brenden's dying wish inspired people all over the world, from Florida to India.
A men's shelter in Los Angeles renamed its kitchen after Brenden. And a Girl Scouts troop in Issaquah is collecting food in his memory. And the stories go on.
KOMO News held a huge food drive in Brenden's honor last year. Hundreds came out to honor Brenden's wish, and the drive was a huge success.
We stuffed six and a half trucks full of donated food. And generous souls helped raise more than $60,000 in cash donations. And along with the donations, many shared smiles and tears while talking about their inspiration, beloved Brenden.
Brenden saw TV coverage of the incredible turnout, and his family members said their sick boy was simply overjoyed amid his pain and discomfort.
We're holding another food drive in Brenden's memory this year, and we hope to see similar results.
"That's where it means everything to me, because as a mom, I don't have to ask why he had to go. I know why. I look at the imprint on humanity that he's left, and it's huge," said Wendy Foster.
Wendy is finally letting go of new toys her son was too weak to open, and the new pillows that propped him up when he passed away.
"I have all of his bands from hospital stays. Don't know why I can't get rid of those," he said.
The morning after watching our food drive last November, Brenden died.
"It just hurt so much. I didn't know how to live without him. Everything I had done for four years was for him - to help him, and I lost the fight," said Wendy.
But Wendy remembered what she taught her son.
When asked what made him sad, Brenden said, "When someone gives up."
Brendan never gave up. And that's the lesson he taught his mom and the rest of us.
KOMO News will be collecting food for both Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest on Wednesday. We'll have collection trucks at Fred Meyer stores in Renton, Bothell, and Issaquah. We hope to see you at one of those three locations.
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