Wisconsin man who received Christmas cards passes away

Updated 3:00 p.m. on February 2, 2020

PRAIRIE DU SAC, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Wisconsin man with a terminal illness who had asked for cards this past Christmas has passed away on Friday afternoon.

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(PRAIRIE DU SAC, WI) - A Wisconsin man with a terminal illness has one request, he’s asking for lots of Christmas cards this year. After stories about Gene Weittenhiller’s request were broadcast on local media, three Milwaukee men decided to go the extra mile to make him smile, literally.

In this life, there are days we cherish and then there are inevitable days we wish we could put off. Gene Weittenhiller’s days are numbered from the terminal cancer in his body.

One of his last wishes is to receive as many Christmas cards as possible. That’s where these three come in.

“Yesterday I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I was just like man, I was battling my own depression, stressing and the first thing I saw when I went on Google I seen his story, and I’m like wow,” said Earl Minley.

“We all got together, our little gas money that we had, put in the car,” said Markeith Powell.

They used that gas money to drive to Gene’s front door in Prairie du Sac, cards in hand.

“We told him we saw your post on social media and he’s like seriously. I’m like ya, we didn’t have nothing to do today and we just decided to come up here today to make you smile. The smile on their face, it’s like they knew us already,” said Minley.

They hugged and prayed and together they cried.

“He read the cards and he didn’t even get done with his card before he started crying,” said Minley.

“It’s like all of us are fighting our own battles and to see the expression on his face, to see the tears come down his face, you know, it really did something to all of us,” said Powell.

“It makes us realize how precious life is, the stuff we are going through ain’t nothing,” said Marqwain Givhan.

Three young men using their day to bring a smile to a man who doesn’t know how many he has left.

“All it took was a two hour drive and he cried tears of joy,” said Givhan.

If you’d like to send Gene Weittenhiller a Christmas card, his address is 410 20th Street, Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin 53578.