Maddox Hyde has a simple wish to help celebrate what likely will be his final Christmas.
The 14-year-old Reynoldsville, Pa., resident has cancer. Doctors have told him he has only weeks to live.
The teen’s middle school and community have held fundraisers to help Maddox and his family, including one that fulfilled this wish of a trip to visit Hawaii.
He still has one yearning request — to receive Christmas cards from around the world. Hundreds of well-wishers already have penned notes to him.
“It is really cool to see how many people are sending them,” Maddox told WJAC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Johnstown, Pa. “It makes me happy.”
The cards, he says, are making coping with his illness “a little easier.”
“It is really cool to see how many people are sending them,” Maddox said.
He says the cards feature pictures, stories and long messages. One retired officer gave him his prized possession: his patch he wore for more than 20 years. Another card came with a bottle of sand from the beach. Each one of the hundreds of cards had something special. So many people sent cards that he got the same ones more than once.
Maddox said just reading them all makes his battle a little easier.
“It makes me happy,” Maddox said.
His mother, Kristi Potter, told the Centre Times Daily, that her son is no longer in treatment as the cancer spread. He’s returned home, as he “lives his final weeks.”
To fulfill Maddox’s wish, you can send Christmas cards to him at 333 Ohio St., Reynoldsville, PA, 15851.
