Shane Caldwell is in the middle of the battle of his life, taking on Stage 4 lung cancer. Not knowing his future, he wanted to attend this year's Masters -- and meet Tiger Woods.
Friends secured some tickets for Caldwell to attend on Thursday. That was difficult enough.
He was donated tickets for tomorrow by a family friend ☺️
— Jordan Miller (@jordsierra27) April 5, 2018
But meeting Tiger Woods? How would it be possible? Woods, looking for a 15th major in his first Masters start since 2015, nor anyone in his camp knew Caldwell or his story. So, Caldwell's stepdaughter, Jordan Miller, decided to take to social media in the hopes of helping her father's dreams come true.
She started on Facebook.
Jordan then went to Twitter, sharing her stepfather's story and making an impassioned plea to anyone who might be able to help facilitate the improbable meeting.
PLEASE RETWEET!! I need help making my step dads dream of meeting @TigerWoods come true. He has stage 4 lung cancer and is very sick. This would mean the absolute world to him. Please help me make this happen for him 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/m7xRCi5NKr
— Jordan Miller (@jordsierra27) April 1, 2018
Twitter is way more of an effective mechanism. You can tag celebrities. You can get groundswell support from total strangers who aren't your friends. And both of those things happened with Jordan's April 1 tweet. Eventually, enough retweets and likes got Jordan's message into the timelines of a staffer at Tiger Woods' TGR Foundation, as well, according to Yahoo Sports, Woods' caddie Joe LaCava's sister. It also reached Woods' girlfriend, Erica Herman, and she was instrumental in making Jordan's appeal a reality.
Woods and Herman both lost their fathers to cancer, so there's a natural proclivity toward Caldwell's condition and battle.
Herman and Woods' folks told Miller to bring her stepfather to the Tournament Practice Facility at Augusta National between 9:10 and 9:15 in the morning, per Yahoo Sports. Miller shared what Caldwell would be wearing.
His stepdaughter made a social media plea to help him meet @TigerWoods.
On Thursday, during Round 1 of @TheMasters, Columbia native Shane Caldwell - who is battling Stage 4 lung cancer - got to check off PART of his bucket list item.
>>> https://t.co/hGEuEyG73V @jordsierra27 pic.twitter.com/ANwmBOGckF— WIS News 10 (@wis10) April 5, 2018
At the appointed time, Caldwell was there, and so was Herman. Miller didn't tell Shane what was happening, but he sensed something was up when Herman posted up near him. When Woods wrapped up his practice session, he came over to Caldwell, introduced himself and gave him a signed glove reading “Stay strong!! Tiger Woods."
He did ♥️ pic.twitter.com/J5OZLtOwcf
— Jordan Miller (@jordsierra27) April 6, 2018
The hope was Caldwell could spend a few more minutes with Woods after the round, but Caldwell's health was not good that day and he had to leave Augusta National early in the day. Fortunately, Caldwell was able to land Sunday tickets, so he'll be back if he's feeling up to it. No matter what happens, that Thursday meeting was an incredible moment.
My superman lived his dream today and my heart is so incredibly full. I couldn’t have done it without y’alls support. If I learned anything this week, it’s DONT GIVE UP. thank y’all 🙏🏼🙌🏼
— Jordan Miller (@jordsierra27) April 6, 2018
