Brighten Your Day

U.S. Navy Veteran Catches Final Fish As Dying Wish

September 9, 2016

Here's a touching story today that will certainly tug at your heartstrings.

U.S. Navy Veteran Connie Willhite was taking a turn for the worst in his battle with cancer. A patient of the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Georgia, he had two final wishes before the cancer took his life: To be baptized and to catch one more fish.

Photo courtesy of Carl Vinson VA Medical Center

His family organized the baptism. Greg Senters, his hospice social worker, organized the last fishing trip Willhite would ever take.

Senters supplied the bait and the gear and they set off to the nearby pond located behind the VA Medical Center. Given Willhite's grave condition, the staff wasn't sure he'd be able to catch a fish, but they wanted to give him an opportunity to try.

He caught four fish from his hospital bed.

While he was catching those fish, Willhite's face lit up and he was truly at peace.

"All of a sudden, the cancer and everything else went away," Senters said. "What you see is that precious few moments of someone really enjoying life."