||| FROM CNN.COM |||
Despite a breast cancer diagnosis, Thanksgiving Grandma and the young man she met nearly a decade ago via an accidental text will continue their holiday tradition today for the ninth year in a row.
But Wanda Dench’s annual gathering with Jamal Hinton will look a little different.
“I just recently finished up with chemotherapy, so I’m not 100% yet,” Dench told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Thursday morning. “And I live about two hours away from where Jamal lives. And so we decided that this year would be best for my health if I stayed at home.”
“We will FaceTime with each other,” Dench continued. “I was looking so forward to meeting his family and having turkey with everybody, but we have to accept things the way they are, and I’m sure next year is going to be so much better.”
The tradition began when Dench, thinking she was texting one of her six grandchildren, instead mistakenly texted Hinton, who was then a teenager in the middle of a class. The unlikely pair from Arizona since then has fostered delight across the country and beyond, especially around America’s holiday devoted to gratitude.
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