Jim Gaffigan is an American comedian and father of five. In late April, he learned that his beautiful wife, Jeannie, had a brain tumor the size of an apple attached to her brainstem.
Jeannie underwent a 9 hour surgery to remove the tumor. The procedure was successful, but left her throat paralyzed for weeks. She was unable to eat or drink without a feeding tube. Slowly, she regained the ability to swallow and now can eat anything, as long as it’s pureed.
With this in mind Jim started scrambling to find a venue for their upcoming 14th anniversary. Gaffigan called in a favor with renowned Chef Mario Batali to see what he could do, and the result was beautiful. Check out Gaffigan’s words, posted to Instagram, below.
“I realize we live in strange, maybe even mean times. Like you, I read the news daily shaking my head with horror how humans treat other humans. But there are some amazing people out there.”
“When @jeanniegaffigan was diagnosed with a brain tumor so many friends, family and strangers stepped up to offer meals, help, encouragement and prayers. It really blew me away. Thank you so much for everything.”
“One friend was @mariobatali who with his wife Suzi sent over numerous elaborate gourmet meals to feed me, the kids and our helpers.”
“Last week I emailed Mario asking him to hep me find a place for our 14th wedding anniversary. I was trying to find a nice place for us to celebrate but given Jeannie can not comfortably eat solids I was hoping to find a place that did amazing soups (yes,in July.)”
“I knew Mario was on vacation but I hoped he could point me in the right direction. Mario responded insisting that we come to @delposto and that he would make sure we were well taken care of.”
“When we arrived we saw that Mario had created a custom tasting menu of various gourmet soups with accompanied wines or cocktails.”
“Of course the whole experience was insanely amazing but the generosity of kindness and compassion by Mario was most moving. Thanks Mario”
When times get tough, friends and family are there to help. Many of us choose to fight our battles alone… but that’s what friends are for. Let them be your honor guard when you need them most and return the favor when the tides begin to turn.
We’re rooting for you Jeannie! Share and spread a smile!
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