Restaurant owner drove 6 hours to fulfill woman's last wish a few hours before she died

An act of kindness goes a long way as it not only leaves an impact on the recipient but also on the person who witnesses it or hears about it. In a heartwarming gesture, Kevin Cherry, the owner of Outer Banks restaurant Mama Kwans, went out of his way to fulfill the final wish of a dying woman. He visited her on her deathbed and gave her a desired gift, as per WAVY's 10 On Your Side.

It all started when a woman named Heather Bowers, who had been battling final-stage cancer, had expressed her one final wish - to eat a pork plate from her favorite vacation spot, Mama Kwans in Outer Banks. Bowers, who stayed six hours away in West Virginia, was almost certain that she would miss out on her favorite meal but it took the efforts of her best friend Mary Simmons to plan something special. Simmons wanted to fulfill her friend's last wish, so she contacted the owner of the restaurant with a special request. Cherry did not think twice before deciding to drive down six hours to provide Bowers her one last pork plate.

Simmons said, “I knew it was a long shot and she calls me by about 5 and she said Kevin already has it packed up. He’s in the car and he’s on his way there. I said, ‘What?’ And she said he’s on his way to the house.” Cherry nearly drove six hours to deliver what ended up being Bowers' last meal as she passed away the next day.

Simmons talked about her best friend's cancer journey, “Right out of the gate it was Stage 4. What she went through in three-and-a-half years would’ve brought down the strongest man.” In Bowers' case, chemotherapy worked but in the process, it also destroyed her other cells.

After paying a special visit to Bowers, Cherry expressed that it was emotionally heavy for him to visit her. He said, "About halfway up, I had to turn the radio off and had to talk to myself, saying, 'You can't walk in here like this. You've got to walk in with a little bit of sunshine from the Outer Banks'." The Mama Kwans owner revealed that he has decided to donate 1000 dollars to the West Virginia hospice care center that took care of Bowers during her final moments.

Using Bowers' story, Simmons highlighted the importance of kindness and said, "I just think maybe, if people see that kind of kindness, it’ll start spreading. That’s the hope. He made her smile — one of the final smiles of her life.” She also shared a post on Facebook, thanking Cherry from Mama Kwans for his thoughtful gesture.

This article originally appeared five months ago.