Fatima Ali: Terminally Ill Top Chef Star Receives Outpouring of Support

If you’re a fan of the acclaimed Bravo cooking competition Top Chef, then you may have already heard the tragic news that beloved former contestant Fatima Ali has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Ali revealed her diagnosis Tuesday in a heartbreaking essay published by Bon Appetit.

“My oncologist has told me that I have a year to live, with or without the new chemotherapy regimen,” Ali wrote.

“I was looking forward to being 30, flirty, and thriving. Guess I have to step it up on the flirting. I have no time to lose.”

“I am desperate to overload my senses in the coming months, making reservations at the world’s best restaurants, reaching out to past lovers and friends, and smothering my family, giving them the time that I so selfishly guarded before.”

Displaying the trademark wit that made her a fan favorite during her time on the show, Ali added:

“I was looking forward to being 30, flirty and thriving. Guess I have to step it up on the flirting. I have no time to lose.”

In the hours after Chef Fatima’s article was published, thousands offered words of gratitude and support on social media, including her Top Chef co-stars:

“This is my friend, she is courage, strength and she wrote a piece almost as beautiful as she is, link is in my bio please read and share #teamfati,” wrote Top Chef Season 15 champion Joe Flamm.

“Can’t even begin to say how devastated I am to hear this news, it really hit me hard! No one truly can understand the bond created through @bravotopchef we’ve become a close knit family very quickly,” fellow chef Bruce Kalman wrote.

“I’m so inspired by @cheffati bravery and positive outlook on this situation.

Fatima Ali: Top Chef Offer Support

“The deep connection and love we all have for each other, for better or worse, is unrivaled. Life is too short and it’s time we all appreciated everyone and everything in our lives.”

Just days before she revealed that her illness had reached the terminal stage, Ali posted the above video of her co-stars wishing her well from an event in Connecticut that she had been unable to attend.

We hope Fatima finds comfort in knowing that she will receive such love and support in her final days — and joy in knowing that she’s been an inspiration to so many.

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Prince Harry Visits Terminally Ill Children, Inspires Your Daily Cry

Prince Harry has been making a lot of news lately for his adorable relationship with Meghan Markle, and while that’s wonderful and all, we mustn’t forget that in addition to his love life, he’s also a truly great person.

Really, just the best.

He’s always taken his royal duties seriously, and he also always been great with children and animals and veterans and … well, everyone and everything.

But earlier this week, Harry took some time to visit with a couple of terminally ill children, two siblings that are suffering from Batten disease.

And it’s just the sweetest, most heartbreaking thing we’ve seen in a very long time.

Batten disease is a rare genetic disorder that affects the nervous system. People who suffer from the disease deal with seizures, problems with vision and motor function, as well as personality changes.

Eventually the disease causes patients to lose the ability to walk and talk, and eventually to breathe. It most commonly affects children, and most of those affected don’t live past the age of 12.

It sounds like a horrible, horrible disease, and six-year-old Ollie suffers from it, along with his little sister, Amelia.

But thankfully, Harry was able to bond with the two children, and it sounds like his visit meant a lot to them.

On Ollie’s Facebook page, his parents explained that last October, the little boy won The Most Inspirational Child award at the Wellchild Awards, and while he was there, he met Harry.

“What happened that day was truly magical,” they wrote, “Ollie used all of his strength to stand on two feet to give Prince Harry a huge hug.”

“We truly believe in that moment a bond was made between Ollie and Prince Harry.”

Shortly after the awards ceremony, Ollie and Amelia were approved to try a new experimental treatment for the disease, and they wrote a letter to Harry about it.

They also thanked him “for giving our son the strength to stand when we thought this was no longer possible.”

On Tuesday, the children were at a hospital getting that treatment when Harry stopped by for a visit.

Their parents wrote that “For an hour Prince Harry sat with us talking and playing with our children, laughing and making memories, The very thing our children want the most in life, to be happy and having fun.”

“We feel so much pride knowing that Ollie and Amelia are touching the lives of the people they meet, with their love and strength.”

“The love, the support and the laughter within that treatment room on Tuesday will stay with us forever.”

“From the bottom of our hearts,” they continued, “we thank Prince Harry for his support, his time and his kindness towards our family and our journey with Batten Disease.”

“It was truly incredible to watch him with our children and to have the opportunity to talk with him about our journey with Battens.”

Since the family shared their story and their precious photos, so many people have been moved by it all.

Many of them have compared Harry to his mother, the late Princess Diana, and it’s easy to see why.

That Meghan Markle sure did land herself a catch, didn’t she?

View Slideshow: 16 Times Prince Harry Made Us Royally Swoon

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Terminally Ill Children"s Author Seeks New Wife for Husband in Heartbreaking Essay

Hope you’re ready for a good, long cry, because it’s coming your way fast.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, if you’re not familiar with her work, is a bestselling author. She’s written several children’s books, but she’s also written a couple of memoirs.

But her latest work could very possibly be her last work, and that’s because Amy has ovarian cancer and isn’t expected to live very much longer.

The work in question is an essay written for the New York Times titled “You May Want to Marry My Husband.”

Because this woman has been married for over two decades, and she is such an unbelievable gem that she’s spending some of her last moments looking out for her husband.

See what we mean about the crying?

“I have been trying to write this for a while,” she begins, “but the morphine and lack of juicy cheeseburgers (what has it been now, five weeks without real food?) have drained my energy and interfered with whatever prose prowess remains.”

“Still,” she writes, “I have to stick with it, because I’m facing a deadline, in this case, a pressing one. I need to say this (and say it right) while I have a) your attention, and b) a pulse.”

Amy says that she’s married to “the most extraordinary man,” and while they’ve been married for 26 years, “I was planning on at least another 26 together.”

She then explains that on the same day their third and youngest child left for college, she and her husband went to the emergency room for what they thought was appendicitis but what turned out to be ovarian cancer.

“So many plans instantly went poof,” she writes — no international adventures with her husband or her parents, no writers’ residencies.

“This is when we entered what I came to think of as Plan ‘Be,"” she continues, “existing only in the present. As for the future, allow me to introduce you to the gentleman of this article, Jason Brian Rosenthal.”

Yep, so let’s kick the heartache up a notch.

Amy writes that her husband Jason is “an easy man to fall in love with,” and she knows because she did it in one day — on a blind date when they were 24 years old.

Though she’s never been on any dating sites, she takes a stab at creating a dating profile for Jason — she calls him a “sharp dresser” with “a flair for fabulous socks,” she says that he’s “uncannily handy” and “man, can he cook.”

She says he’s a wonderful father to their three children, and that “he showed up at our first pregnancy ultrasound with flowers.”

She then goes into a story about how she had a contest in which her fans could submit ideas to her for matching tattoos, and whichever submission she picked, she would get that tattoo with that person.

In the end, she chose a simple tattoo: the word more. Her reader picked it because she’d once written it was the first word she ever said as a child, but now it has deeper meaning.

“I want more time with Jason,” she says. “I want more time with my children. I want more time sipping martinis at the Green Mill Jazz Club on Thursday nights.”

“But that is not going to happen. I probably have only a few days left being a person on this planet. So why am I doing this?”

She explains “I am wrapping this up on Valentine’s Day, and the most genuine, none-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.”

“I’ll leave this intentional space below as a way of giving you two the fresh start you deserve.”

After that blank space, she closed her essay by writing “With all my love, Amy.”

What a woman. What a wife. What an incredibly thoughtful, selfless human being.

And now for those tears …

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Quincy Jones: Terminally Ill Comic to Make HBO Debut Tonight

On August 6, 2015 comedian Quincy Jones was told he had one year to live.

After undergoing tests due to an accumulation of fluid in his belly, Jones, 32, was diagnosed with stage IV mesothelioma.

Highly respected in stand-up comedy circles for his incisive wit and tireless work ethic (He often performed several hundred shows in a single year.), Jones – no relation to the music producer Quincy Jones – was a virtual unknown to the general public until his recent appearances on Ellen. 

DeGeneres says she was impressed not only by Jones’ talent but by his perseverance, courage and optimism in the face of unimaginable adversity.

So she brought him on her show twice: once to tell his story, and a second time to receive the surprise of a lifetime:

Quincy Jones on Ellen

“Here’s the thing that you mentioned last time, that you want to do a comedy special,” DeGeneres says to Jones in the clip above. 

“So what you don’t know, we called the head of HBO. And your people didn’t even tell you this, but HBO is going to air your special.”

Jones’ reaction is one for the ages.

“I was hoping Netflix or Comedy Central,” the comic told People magazine in a recent interview. “HBO was like the Holy Grail.” 

As for his illness, Jones remains confident that it can be beaten:

“I don’t think I’m going to die in a year. I can’t see myself withering away on August 6, 2016,’ ” he says.

“So, when I got out of the hospital, I did what I needed to do to fight the cancer, which is chemotherapy. Changing my diet. Like, there was almost a desperation for me to survive. And that’s what I did.

“There is no cancer when I’m on stage,” he adds.

Jones’ special, Burning the Light, premieres tonight at 10 p.m. EST on HBO.

Quincy Jones: Terminally Ill Comic to Make HBO Debut Tonight

On August 6, 2015 comedian Quincy Jones was told he had one year to live.

After undergoing tests due to an accumulation of fluid in his belly, Jones, 32, was diagnosed with stage IV mesothelioma.

Highly respected in stand-up comedy circles for his incisive wit and tireless work ethic (He often performed several hundred shows in a single year.), Jones – no relation to the music producer Quincy Jones – was a virtual unknown to the general public until his recent appearances on Ellen. 

DeGeneres says she was impressed not only by Jones’ talent but by his perseverance, courage and optimism in the face of unimaginable adversity.

So she brought him on her show twice: once to tell his story, and a second time to receive the surprise of a lifetime:

Quincy Jones on Ellen

“Here’s the thing that you mentioned last time, that you want to do a comedy special,” DeGeneres says to Jones in the clip above. 

“So what you don’t know, we called the head of HBO. And your people didn’t even tell you this, but HBO is going to air your special.”

Jones’ reaction is one for the ages.

“I was hoping Netflix or Comedy Central,” the comic told People magazine in a recent interview. “HBO was like the Holy Grail.” 

As for his illness, Jones remains confident that it can be beaten:

“I don’t think I’m going to die in a year. I can’t see myself withering away on August 6, 2016,’ ” he says.

“So, when I got out of the hospital, I did what I needed to do to fight the cancer, which is chemotherapy. Changing my diet. Like, there was almost a desperation for me to survive. And that’s what I did.

“There is no cancer when I’m on stage,” he adds.

Jones’ special, Burning the Light, premieres tonight at 10 p.m. EST on HBO.

Daniel Fleetwood Dies; Terminally Ill Star Wars Fan Was 32

Daniel Fleetwood  – the terminally ill Star Wars fan who inspired the #ForceForDaniel campaign – has passed away at the age of 32.

As we reported earlier, Fleetwood suffered from spindle cell sarcoma and was aware that he didn’t have long to live. His dying wish was to see the completed version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which isn’t slated for release until next month.

His wife, Ashley, enlisted fellow Star Wars fans to help convince filmmakers to allow Daniel to see the movie a few weeks early, as doctors believed that he might not make it to the December 18 release date.

Franchise stars like Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher expressed their support for the campaign, and last week Daniel got his wish.

Director J.J. Abrams contacted the Fleetwood family to arrange a screening, and Ashley offered elated updates on the experience via Twitter:

“To all our wonderful supporters, friends, family and awesome strangers: Daniels final dream was just granted!!! Today the wonderful Disney, Bad Robot and Lucasfilm teams made his final dream come true, Daniel just finished watching an unfinished version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!!!

“We would like to thank the awesomely talented JJ Abrams for calling us yesterday to tell us Daniel was getting his wish granted! Lastly I want to thank ALL the amazing people who helped make this happen!!! May the force be with you all smile ‪#‎forcefordaniel‬.”

While Daniel’s passing is beyond tragic, the fact that his final days were defined by the devotion of his family and friends, and his passionate love for his favorite films offers a tiny silver lining.

May the force be with you, Daniel. 

View Slideshow: Celebrities We Lost in 2015

Terminally Ill STAR WARS Fan: Dying Wish Granted

Prepare for the feels.

Daniel Fleetwood, 32, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in July, and given only a few months to live.  His dying wish was to see STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, the franchise’s latest installment.

So, Fleetwood’s wife, Ashley asked Twitter for a little help.

“#forcefordaniel help my man get his last wish, to see a screening of Star Wars before cancer takes him. @bad_robot,” she tweeted.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Fleetwood, who has been a STAR WARS fan since he was a kid, was afraid he “wouldn’t make it” until the December 18th release.

Through the power of social media, director J.J. Abrams saw the tweet, and put things into motion for Fleetwood.

“It was an amazing experience!” Ashley told ET of Daniel’s big day.  She went into more detail via Facebook:

“To all our wonderful supporters, friends, family and awesome strangers: Daniels final dream was just granted!!! Today the wonderful Disney, Bad Robot and Lucasfilm teams made his final dream come true, Daniel just finished watching an unfinished version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!!!

“We would like to thank the awesomely talented JJ Abrams for calling us yesterday to tell us Daniel was getting his wish granted! Lastly I want to thank ALL the amazing people who helped make this happen!!! May the force be with you all smile ‪#‎forcefordaniel‬.”

View Slideshow: Star Wars The Force Awakens: Photos Galore!