Denise Lee only wanted one thing.
She was 79 years old, had four grandchildren, and had terminal cancer that, three years earlier, had separated her from what she loved most in life: horses. She spent decades riding and supporting the Riding for the Disabled organization. Now she was in a bed at St. Barnabas House hospice in Worthing, England, and in August she confided to her daughter Joanne and the staff that she longed to smell a horse again and touch one.
When care assistant Claire Wiggins asked her what was important to her that day, Denise replied that she wanted to see a horse one more time and feel its breath on her hand. Joanne posted an appeal on Facebook. Within hours, neighbor Kerry Saunders, a horse owner, offered to bring two of her ponies.
They arrived the next morning. One was taupe with a black mane, the other white with dark spots. Denise, fully conscious, placed her hand on one of their noses and smiled. “Mom cried, we cried, the nurses cried!”, Joanne wrote. Denise passed away peacefully 36 hours later. “We will always have a beautiful memory to look back on”.