Mom’s dying wish granted two years after death

Two years after her death, a mom’s dying wish has been granted, giving her family an incredible Christmas gift.

Brenda Schmitz was 46 when she died in Sept. 2011 after a battle with ovarian cancer.

Before she died, she wrote a letter to Star 102.5, Des Moines, Iowa, radio station that grants Christmas wishes every year.

She gave the letter to a trusted friend with simple instructions: Don’t mail the letter until her husband, David, had fallen in love again.

When David got engaged in September, Brenda’s friend mailed the letter.

“In more than 20 years of granting Christmas Wishes, we’ve never received a wish quite like the one we received from Brenda Schmitz,” the station wrote in a blog post.

The station recently invited David to the studio to share Brenda’s wish with him. David tearfully listened to Brenda’s letter be read.

A video posted on YouTube shows David tearfully describe Brenda’s ordeal and what he’s gone through since she died.

“Since she’s been gone, she’s shown a lot of signs that she’s still here,” he said.

He said Brenda’s song was “Over the Rainbow,” and the morning she died, a brilliant rainbow appeared.

“There’s no doubt in my mind who did that,” David said.

In her letter, Brenda expressed her love for her family and her appreciation for the woman who would help raise her children. She asked for a weekend of pampering for David’s fiancee, Jayne Abraham, and for a vacation so the family could make new memories together.

“I want them to know I love them very much,” Brenda wrote.

David said he wasn’t surprised by Brenda’s foresight.

“She told me to meet someone that would love the boys and treat them like her own,” he said. “I asked her how I’d know when I met that person. Brenda said I would know because she’d be there.”

Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @steph_grimes