Michael Jordan is the GOAT of basketball, a billionaire entrepreneur, and one of the greatest athletes in history. But, once upon a time, he was just a regular student at Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina.
At that school, Michael was taught by Ms. Etta. Today, she’s in hospice care at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, not too far from the high school. And she recently received a surprise from her famous former pupil, as part of her wish to speak to him one last time.
According to staff at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, Ms. Etta had been reflecting on her memories as a teacher, and Michael’s name kept coming up. The staff tried their hardest to contact him so that Ms. Etta could live out her “bucket list” wish to speak to him again.
They’d had no luck reaching Michael until, one day, a staff member named Wendy received a call from an unknown number. “It was Michael Jordan,” a post on the hospice’s social media page reveals. Wendy was apparently at home when she got the call, so she immediately jumped into her car and drove to Ms. Etta so that she and Michael could chat on FaceTime.
“They laughed, reminisced, picked at each other, and shared a moment that brought tears to everyone in the room. A memory her family will carry with them forever,” the post says. “This is what hospice is about. It is about living as comfortably and fully as possible. It is about creating moments of connection, peace, laughter, and love. Sometimes those moments are quiet. Sometimes they are unforgettable. And sometimes… they even involve the GOAT.”
Thanking Michael for making Ms. Etta’s wish come true, the hospice staff also shared pictures of the two of them on FaceTime — Ms. Etta in her bed, and Michael beaming from ear to ear on the phone screen.
Given how private Michael is now, it hasn’t taken long for this heartwarming story to go viral, with people praising his kindness on social media. (And clocking how cute Ms. Etta’s pink nails are!)
“This is such a hard kindness. It’s hard talking to someone in hospice, someone who knows they’re at the end, and it’s the elephant sitting on the whole conversation, no matter what you’re talking about,” one Reddit user wrote. “It’s a beautiful gift to be given a last conversation, but it is such an important and hard thing. Celebs could easily send flowers or a video clip or some half measure, but stepping up to offer genuine connection in this way is beautiful.”
“Teachers are the coolest, most selfless, most important people on the planet. Always remember that. They make the world go around,” another user wrote, while someone else added that Michael “obviously adored her” as a student.
“Very sweet. Nice to see people actually giving a crap about their teachers, especially since a large part of the public vilifies us,” a teacher said in response. “Being a teacher is pretty grim these days, so I’ll take the positivity when and where I can, however small.”
A little bit of kindness goes a long way indeed!
