A Concord, North Carolina neighborhood is celebrating Christmas two months early for a good cause. The town’s residents simply want to fulfill a dying woman’s wish to celebrate her favorite holiday one last time.
Michelle Fadel has always loved Christmas. The 56-year-old is battling terminal cancer, which has spread to her brain, bones and lungs. When Fadel told her family she would love to have one more Christmas, the whole community broke out the decorations and decked the halls.
“There’s a good chance, unless the Lord changes his mind, that I won’t make it through Christmas and I love Christmas,” Michelle Fadel said. “I love that everyone is cheery, everyone’s together, everything’s lit up, everything’s pretty and you rarely see grumpy people during Christmas.”
The neighbors rallying behind the early Christmas celebration all started because of Fadel’s husband — Dan.
On October 8th, Dan was putting up Christmas decorations and lights when a neighbor asked why he was doing it so early.
“I told her Michelle wanted to be able to celebrate Christmas one more time and didn’t think she was necessarily going to make it to December,” Dan said. “She went to talk to another neighbor, and when I came home from work and I pulled into the street, I saw all these lights and decorations from everyone, and it tore me up.”
The elderly couple had only lived in their current home for a little over two years, but the amount of support they got from the neighbors was overwhelming.
Clearly, the Fadels has made an impression on their community since about 12 neighbors put up their decorations early to fulfill this lady’s wish.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Fadel told reporters. “I’m just overwhelmed by their generosity to do this, their expression of love to us since we’ve been here such a short time.”
“I hope that my family remembers that they are not alone,” she added. “I may not be here, but they’re not alone and there’s a lot of love if they’ll let it in.”
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