Janice Sally Czosek Hetrick was sitting in her wheelchair at Sisters Hospital, St. Joseph's Campus when she got a big surprise: a video message from Donnie Wahlberg.
"I just wanted to say hi and I'm sorry you missed the show," Wahlberg said in the video message.
Wahlberg is in Buffalo for a New Kids on the Block concert Friday night at KeyBank Center.
One of the people on Wahlberg's staff is a woman named Grace,who's sister is caring for Janice as she undergoes breast cancer treatment. Wahlberg makes the connection about the four degrees of separation in the video, and proceeds to offer the Lancaster woman tickets and backstage passes to any show of her choice once she is feeling better.
"Cleveland is pretty close. So if you feel better for Cleveland, you let me know and I will give you tickets and backstage passes for Cleveland or anywhere even remotely close. So you let Hannah know, who will let Grace know, who will let me know or my assistant Johnny know and we'll take care of you. Otherwise we'll just send you something really nice," Wahlberg said.
He finished the video by telling Janice, "I hope you feel better, alright. Keep fighting."
Janice was moved to tears when she saw the video.
"He took time out of his busy schedule for me!," Janice told 7 Eyewitness News.
Janice has a unique connection to Donnie Wahlberg that spans a couple of years. Since she was diagnosed in 2015, she has carried a plastic Donnie doll with her to surgeries, chemo treatments, and radiation appointments.
The doll even became a fixture at all cancer research fundraising events she and her girlfriend would go to.
Why a Donnie Wahlberg doll?
Happenstance, really. It was in a pile of Barbie dolls that she brought on a camping trip for her grandchildren to play with.
One doll had a tattoo, which led them to do some research and discover it was a doll of Donnie Wahlberg.
"So, for two years, I have written to Donnie, Jenny McCarthy, Ellen DeGeneres asking for a get well card to help me with my fight," Janice told 7 Eyewitness News.
All she wanted was a card. She got so much more.
