The Saddest Thing You'll See for a While

Brave soul.



Transcript:

[Brenden] "I should be gone in a week or so."

The day I met Brenden Foster I met an old soul in an eleven year old's body.

[Reporter] "What are the best things about life?"
[Brenden] "Just having one."

I didn't understand how this child, a year younger than my own son, could be so courageous facing death.

[Brenden] "It happens, it's natural."

Three years earlier, doctors diagnosed Brenden with leukemia.

[Brenden] "I was scared."

The boy who once rushed through homework so he could play outside was now confined to a bed.

[Brenden] "I had a great time. And until it's time--my time has come, I'm going to keep having a good time."

Brenden's selfless dying wish: helping the homeless. But he was too ill to feed them on his own. So volunteers from Emerald City Lights passed out sandwiches in Seattle, people in Los Angeles held a food drive, school kids in Ohio collected cans, they gathered goods to feed the hungry in Pensacola, Florida, and here in Brenden's home town.

[Brenden's mother] "He's left a legacy, and he's eleven. He's done more than most people ever even dream of doing. Just by making a wish."

Brenden's wish came true and he lived to see it.

[Brenden's grandmother] "He has had the joy of seeing all of the beautiful response to his last wish. It gives him great peace. He knows that his life has meaning."

Days before dying he surprised us all with a sudden burst of energy. He wanted off oxygen and out of bed to buy a video game. Wise beyond his years, but still a kid.

[Brenden's mother] "I have been so blessed to have this child. A mother couldn't ask for a better son."

"Bee Man," as his family calls him, had another wish: to save the bees by sprinkling wild flower seeds. Packets of seeds will be passed out at his funeral.

Before dying in his mother's arms, Brenden said he's amazed that a young boy could make such a difference.

[Reporter] "What gets you sad, sweetie?"
[Brenden] "When someone gives up."

Brenden Foster never gave up.

[Reporter] "Thank you Brenden."
[Brenden] "Mhmm."

Even at the end, Brenden kept giving.

[Brenden] "Follow your dreams, don't let anything stop you."