OMAHA, Neb. — A dozen roses simply weren't enough for a Nebraska man who wanted "to do something special" for his wife to celebrate her last chemotherapy treatment. So, he raised money and surprised her with 500.
Video of the surprise shows Alissa Bousquet's repeating "holy moly" in disbelief as friends and family delivered 36 vases of roses to her at the Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center in Omaha. Husband Brad Bousquet writes that he secretly texted wife Alissa's friends and family to help with the effort. The roses sold for $10 each with the proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.
He says the rose drive raised more than $4,500.
Bousquet writes that the flowers were shared with other patients at the hospital.
Today is my wife’s last chemotherapy treatment. She has amazed me with her strength, courage, and positive attitude through it all. She still has a few surgeries ahead of her but completing chemotherapy is huge milestone in her journey. I wanted to do something special during this last treatment to celebrate the end of her chemo and to show her the tremendous love and support she has from her friends and family. I also wanted to honor her fight against cancer by providing a donation in her name towards breast cancer research. To accomplish this I secretly sent a text to several of Alissa’s friends and family. I asked them to help me surprise her by showering her in roses during her last treatment. I arranged for our local flower shop to take the orders. Each rose was purchased for $10.00 with all of the proceeds being donated to Susan G. Komen towards breast cancer research. I was amazed when the orders started rolling in! We quickly reached 100 roses, then 300 roses, then 400. When we reached 500 roses I told the flower shop to stop ordering roses and let all the remaining orders go entirely to the Susan G. Komen donation. Together over 170 families wanted to purchase roses and we ended up raising over $4500 for breast cancer research. The flower shop placed the roses in 36 vases and then put them in 6 small wicker baskets. Alissa’s two teen aged daughters and four close friends (AKA Alissa’s Crew) made the delivery. After presenting the rose baskets to my wife we gave all of the 36 vases to the other cancer patients receiving treatment as well as the nurses in the chemo room as a gift from our family. Alissa kept a large vase of roses that I had presented to her just before the baskets arrived. The joy of sharing these roses with the other cancer patients was one of my favorite parts. Many had tears as they read a card that I shared with them explaining the gift. Alissa and I are truly blessed to have such amazing support from all of our friends and family!
Posted by Brad Bousquet on Thursday, June 23, 2016
Cox Media Group
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