Cancer patient gets balloon ride as dying wish

LAND O LAKES, Fla. - Even before the crack of dawn, , Phyllis Kendrick's friends, family and nurses all gathered to help launch her dream. It's also this cancer patient's last hurrah.

A ride on a hot air balloon, for a woman who has had an unbelievable ride already.

"Our mother is 86-years-old, a veteran of the Coast Guard, and this is her final wish." said her daughter Denise Maloney.

Her son Larry Kendrick told us, "My mother said oh my gosh, I have always wanted to go up in one."

And thanks to the hospice nurses at Bay Pines Phyllis made it from her her hospital bed into the arms of Tom Warren, the pilot, who took her up in the sky.

"I'm not a bit afraid really I am not,  "Kendrick told him, "I need you to give me a hug."

"It is something I never expected, but boy it is going to be fun." she said.

She never expected cancer either. Last March, Phyllis learned a rare form of the illness had attacked her liver and she was given only months to live.  Today's balloon ride was her one last wish.

"It was beautiful." Kendrick said. Phyllis joked she did not know where balloon would lead, but like her life it was quite a ride.