Woman Gives Sentimental 'Goodbye' Gifts To Her In-Laws After Ending Her Treatment
She's incredibly selfless.
TikTok People have different ways of coping and handling the life-altering situation that occurs when a loved one is dying. Taylor Odlozil, a father from Texas, began regularly sharing his wife Haley's story to TikTok.
Haley was diagnosed with ovarian cancer a week before Christmas in 2015, according to TODAY. The high school sweethearts started dating in September 2008 but had yet to be married before receiving the heartbreaking news.
After chemotherapy and surgery, she is still battling the disease nearly eight years later and a recent bowel obstruction in October 2022 has made doctors refuse to operate further.
The heartbreaking news has meant Haley will be leaving her loved ones behind but she's making the most of her final weeks by letting those who loved her know how much she appreciates them.
After ending her cancer treatment, Haley gave her family sentimental 'goodbye' gifts.
Taylor captioned the video of Haley's beautiful gesture, "These are the gifts Haley got my parents."
In the video, Taylor's mother is emotional as she opens a gift of a blanket designed to look like a page from a composition notebook with a personalized note sewn onto it in Haley's handwriting.
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"Thank y'all for raising the man of my dreams," it reads. "I love y'all so much." And "Haley" is inscribed at the bottom to emulate a handwritten letter.
In the background of the mother's emotional reaction, Taylor's father talked about his touching gift from Haley. "Wind chimes for my garden. Isn't that nice? You ready to hear them?" he said.
Gentle chimes fill the room as Taylor's mother begins to cry. In addition to the blanket, Haley ensured the wind chimes had a moving note too. Their son, Weston, who Haley and Taylor had with the help of a surrogate, stood next to his grandfather as he read Haley's note.
"Through the strongest of storms or the softest breeze, listen to the wind and think of me," the note read. "When you feel the wind feel me, Haley."
His response to the note was equally heartwarming. "Believe me, I will think of you, Haley," he said.
Many people in the comments shared their thoughts on Haley's selfless gesture.
"She's going through this and still thinks of everyone else with these special gifts. Haley you are one strong women," one person commented. "Haley, you have a beautiful big heart & are so thoughtful. I'm sure putting those gifts together was a rollercoaster of emotions," another added.
Taylor began sharing Haley's journey back in Thanksgiving of 2022.
He had just 200 followers, which has exploded to 1.3 million today. The popularity generates overwhelming positive support from people in their comments section. Unfortunately, Haley's condition has worsened since her bowel obstruction.
"She's just slowly gone downhill and the last three weeks have been really bad," Taylor told TODAY. "She's barely eating [and] she throws up [about] 20 times a day now. It's just terrible."
Taylor's TikTok will become one way for their son to reflect on his mom. They remind him daily that her memory is not going anywhere.
"We ask him every day, 'When you can't feel or see mommy, where is she?' and he always says, 'My heart!'" Taylor said.
In fitting with that and the metaphorical note on the wind chimes, Haley does not want to become unremembered.
"My wife's greatest fear that she talks about to me all the time is being forgotten," Taylor said. "She knows that life goes on [and] doesn't stop when you die. Everybody has to get up and go to work and continue on and and she's just so terrified of us forgetting about everything we've been through and forgetting about her...and I'm not going to let that happen."
Taylor has ensured that Haley's memory is going nowhere. For now, she wants to spend her days among the people she loves. "You don't want to leave. That's hard. But we're trying to make sure that we make memories and there's a lot of good moments," Haley said.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. He writes on entertainment and news.