Dolly Parton Helps Fan With Cancer Complete His Bucket List With Sweet Surprise

Dolly Parton recently helped a fan with cancer complete his bucket list, proving once again that she is the archetype for "class act" in country music. PEOPLE reports that Parton surprised Utah resident LeGrand Gold with a sweet phone call and personal serenade. Gold was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer in 2021 and ahead of the holidays was given six months to live. He and his wife put together LG's List of Living, his bucket list — and on that list was meeting Parton, his favorite music artist of all time.

"She sang a song, put my name in the song. I feel like I'm immortal now," Gold told local NBC affiliate KSL of his pre-Christmas call with the country music icon. "That was really cool. It made me feel good." Gold's wife, Alice, spoke with PEOPLE about the big moment, saying that it meant a lot to their family. "We've been flying above the silver lining for days," she told the outlet. "Out of the 11 items [on the list], we thought Dolly would be the impossible, but true to Dolly form, she once again reminds the world that dreams really do come true."

In a video of the call that was shared on YouTube — seen above — Parton can be heard greeting Gold as "LG," and referring to herself as "Dolly P." The singer went on to say, "I'm just happy to know that I've got a fan that devoted and that I've had a chance to watch that journey all these years. I'm just happy that we got to kind of have our journey together in this lifetime. I always want to make people happy with my music and with the things I do and the things I say and I'm just happy to know that I've touched your life in some way. So thank you for honoring me with that."

For his part, Gold shared with Parton that her music has been "a huge help" to him through his cancer journey. The couple also complimented Parton for her character and her Imagination Library book gifting program, which Alice said had been very special for their five children. Later, as the call wrapped, Parton told Gold she "will always love" him, and said, "I should've sung that, shouldn't I?" She then did just that, but swapped out the song's famous lyrics to sing instead, "I will always love LG."