Cancer-stricken man from Wisconsin got to cross an item off his bucket list thanks to newly promoted NYPD captain
BY RYAN SIT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, November 3, 2015, 4:00 AM
- A
- A
- A
HANDOUTRoger Higgenbottom, a Wisconsin man stricken with cancer, takes a photo with his wife Diana on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2014, in Times Square. NYPD Lt. Jamiel Altaheri helped Higgenbottom take an item off his bucket list – to see the ball fall at Times Square.
A dying Wisconsin man and his wife came to Times Square last New Year's Eve in hopes of scratching off a bucket list item: watch the ball drop at the stroke of midnight.
Roger Higgenbottom was 48 when he went to the doctor for a routine physical. But the results were not routine. He had prostate cancer.
The cancer spread into his spine, hobbling a man known for his vitality who married his best friend in 2010 — but then remarried her six more times after he got the diagnosis just because he could.
In December 2014, the two decided to fly to New York to do one more thing while he still could.
“My husband's bucket list was to see the ball drop and I was going to do whatever I could to get him to see that ball drop," said Diana Higgenbottom, 45.
The trip, however, seemed doomed. They arrived at their hotel on the morning of New Year's Eve, as Roger's medication robbed him of his strength.
“Roger was in bed all day," she recalled. “As soon as we got there, he had to throw up. And he had a tumor in his shoulder and it was excruciating."
But Higgenbottom is a man who doesn't quit.
COURTESY DIANA HIGGENBOTTOM
COURTESY DIANA HIGGENBOTTOM
When Diana and Roger Higgenbottom arrived in New York to see the ball drop, they didn't think they were going to see it, due to Roger's extreme pain.
Just minutes before midnight, the couple roused themselves, put on their coats and "Happy New Year" hats and labored out into the crowds near the 42nd St. subway station to stake out a spot.
Then another hitch: The pedestrian plaza was already so packed that the two couldn't see the show. Sadness and panic set in.
HANDOUTNYPD Lt. Jamiel Altaheri (r.) helped Higgenbottom, take an item off his bucket list – to see the ball fall at Times Square.
That's when Diana turned around to pray for guidance and started pacing. She walked about five feet and came face to face with then-NYPD Lt. Jamiel Altaheri, a transit district cop.
“I wasn't even supposed to be up there. I was in transit so I'm supposed to down below but I went up for a break to get coffee," recounted Altaheri, 32. "I saw them and I felt like they were distraught, crying, so I took the initiative and asked, 'Is everything OK?'"
Diana broke down in tears as she told Altaheri about their mission. Without pause, Altaheri reached out to Roger and helped him navigate through the massive crowd.
“Something told me, 'You know what? I'm gonna help these guys,'" Altaheri said.
The cop paved the way up to the police cordon.
“He opened the barricade and then he ripped off a piece of paper and he said, ‘I'm going to write down my number and if I lose you, you call me,’” Diana Higgenbottom recalled. “He walked us right to the front, right under the ball. When we finally got there I looked down at my watch and it said 11:57 p.m.”
Diana snuggled up near her husband — and snapped a photo. Higgenbottom then grabbed a picture with the man who helped make the nearly 900-mile trip a success.
It had been a simple gesture by the officer, but one of great significance to the Higgenbottoms.
COURTESY DIANA HIGGENBOTTOMRoger Higgenbottom was sent a shirt from Altaheri after he visited NYC on New Year's Eve. "Who does that? Angels on Earth do that," Diana said.
“I can't believe his humility. He did it just because it was the right thing,” Diana said.
Altaheri and the Higgenbottoms kept in touch. Altaheri even sent care packages to Wisconsin.
“He sent all kinds of things — an NYPD shirt with Roger's name on it ... Who does that? Angels on Earth do that.”
On March 25, 84 days after leaving Times Square, Roger died at age 52.
As his death neared, Diana asked her husband what his favorite memory was.
"He said seeing that ball drop. Not just that, but the whole thing. Altaheri was my husband's hero," she said.
Since then, she's been trying to figure out a way to show the officer her gratitude. She did last week. Diana flew to New York, this time to surprise the lieutenant as he realized one of his own dreams — elevation to captain.
As Altaheri looked out during the promotion ceremony Friday, he again picked Diana of a crowd.
“I was shocked. I looked at her 2 or 3 times. I was like. 'What, Oh my God!'" he said.
Altaheri chalked his act of kindness to God putting him in the right place at the right time, a modesty Diana has come to know well.
“I hope he understands the magnitude of what he did for us. I hope he gets it. He was New York for me. He came through for me. New York came through for me," she said.
With Thomas Tracy
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered