With her days numbered and the family nest egg sapped by medical bills, Jane Larsen figured cruel fate had finally stepped in to squelch once and for all a long-unrealized notion that she might one day get a true vacation with her husband and five sons.
But then her neighbors came through.Some of them dropped by the Larsen household two weeks ago to announce that residents of the area had pooled enough resources and pulled a few strings to see that the Larsen family would spend the next week on a holiday in Southern California.
Time, they realized, was something of the essence. Larsen learned less than a month ago she is dying of cancer, news that spread rapidly through her small community just southeast of the Salt Lake City limits. It triggered an outpouring of empathy that crossed religious boundaries and took the form of a production her friends dubbed "Dream Makers."
"When they found out her condition and such, members and non-members of the church just pulled together as neighbors," said Russell K. Booth, stake president for eight local LDS Church wards, one of which includes the Larsens.
Linda Flannery, a friend of the family, said the Larsens had planned for some time
to visit Disneyland this summer, but that Larsen's medical setback used up their savings.
"It was just wonderful, it was just like this miracle happening in our lives," said Larsen, who returned from the vacation with her family Monday afternoon. "We'd been planning on going for years and never made it."
The neighborhood knew Larsen had waged a successful battle with breast cancer two years ago, so when word came that cancer had appeared suddenly throughout her body, they reacted quickly, said Flannery.
"Someone said, `Let me call somebody and see if we can't get tickets,' and one thing led to another. People just started calling whomever they knew working for whatever company."
Morris Travel donated free round-trip Salt Lake City-Los Angeles airline tickets for the entire family. An employee of the Marie Callendar's Restaurant chain dropped a hint, and the company gave the Larsens a week's worth of meals in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas. Hotels offered free lodging. Disneyland presented the family with two-day tickets. Sea World sent admission vouchers, Avis offered a considerable discount on a rental van, and a local limousine service took the Larsens to the airport eight days ago and picked them up when they got back to town Monday, at which time they found somebody had given their kitchen a much-needed coat of paint.
Friends and neighbors who didn't have connections asked "What do they need?" said Flannery. Money was the obvious answer and within fours days $3,600 was collected and presented to Larsen, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years with her husband, Bruce, a state Department of Social Services employee.
"Over 150 people participated . . . Mormon and non-Mormon. It was just like Christmas in June," said Flannery, who added that "many people who couldn't afford to give anything gave way too much."
She said Larsen is an outgoing person who has been active in church affairs and has pursued an avocation as a writer. The two have worked together on theatrical plays in their ward, and Flannery said, "She's got a good sense of humor, she's real witty, real spontaneous, kind of a really creative, disorganized thinker . . . she's a lot of fun."
"We felt this great outpouring of love, we were just crying when they showed up and gave it all to us. We just sat down and cried," said Larsen, who turned 42 on May 29.
Larsen, whose doctors have given her one to three years to live and only a 2 or 3 percent chance of survival, said she relies on her faith for strength.
"I'm just trying to stay close to the Lord and be real positive . . . living as spiritually as I can is a real comfort to me," she said. "I feel real calm and at peace because it's in the Lord's hands. Plus I have all this support and love from my friends."
Flannery said the community might well make the "Dream Maker" idea a permanent mode of helping those less fortunate than most, and said the spirit of the effort will probably live on in Larsen's boys, who range in age from 4 to 17.
"The oldest one stood up in church and thanked everybody even before they went to California. He told us that was the best part of the trip," Flannery said. "I think you'll see this thing perpetuated in those kids. They'll pass it down someday."