100,000 Strangers Just Made This U.S. Army Vet's Dying Wish Come True

NEW BRAUNFELS, TX — Local veteran Lee Hernandez has been through a lot in his 47 years. He spent nearly two decades — half his adult life — as a soldier in the U.S. Army. During that time, he served a tour in Iraq. Then, around five years ago, Hernandez came down with a mysterious terminal illness that has since wracked his body in constant strokes and left him completely blind. He's now spending his final days at home, in chronic pain and hardly able to speak — essentially waiting to die.

But there was one thing Hernandez still had been hoping for before he died, his wife's friend wrote on Facebook this week.

UPDATE: A GoFundMe page has been set up for Hernandez, both to help pay his medical bills and to "fill this season of his life with all the joy that we can." Donate here.

Hernandez' wife, Ernastine, said her husband asked her if he could hold his phone in bed. When she asked why, he answered: "In case someone calls." After hours passed with no calls, though, Ernastine said her husband told her: "I guess no one wants to talk to me."

“It broke my heart,” Ernestine said in an interview with the Arizona Republic. “[His] speech is not very well, so many people didn’t take much interest or want to talk to him.”

More than 100,000 strangers across the country have since reversed that trend.

Responding to a plea posted Tuesday on the Arizona Veterans Forum, fellow vets and supporters began calling Hernandez and sending him notes of love and gratitude.

"At one point Lee had over 100,000 text messages on his cell phone!" Susan Frawley, a friend of the family, wrote on a GoFundMe page she set up for Hernandez on Sunday, July 16.

"Of course Lee couldn't read them all and it crashed his cell phone," Frawley wrote. But "the fact that people contacted him and there were people who cared, has really made a dramatic effect on Lee's mood and spirit and overall health."

"Today he has had one of the best days in a long time and even danced!!!!!" she wrote. "This is huge."

Want to get in on the love fest? You can still call or text Hernandez at (210) 632-6778, ideally between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m Mountain Time, or send him a card at this address.

“A lot of people call to pray with him," Ernestine told the Arizona Republic. "It really uplifts him.”

And in response to some of the texts sent to her husband, she wrote back: "Thanks a million for your support... it means more than you know."

Lead photo by Sgt. Huey Kehl/U.S. Army