Silver Birch Staffer Helps Fulfill Man’s Bucket List
When Courtney Beckom found out Silver Birch of Kokomo resident Robert Long received a bleak prognosis, she and his hospice worker wanted to know how they could make his remaining time here the best it could be — but she didn’t realize the answer to one of his bucket list experiences was sitting in her garage.
“They asked me what I would like to have for a bucket list, and I said I would like to be on a Harley again,” said Long.
A quick call to Beckom’s husband, Wes -- who happened to be home at the time -- and the plan was in motion. About 45 minutes later, Long climbed on Beckom’s husband’s Harley, as a group of onlookers cheered. Long sat on the Harley, and it roared to life, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The first time he revved it, tears just started streaming,” said Beckom, Silver Birch’s director of marketing. “I told him, ‘Robert, open it up and give it hell!’”
For Long, the moment marked the first time in years he sat on a motorcycle and it brought him right back to learning to ride as a child.
“First bike I ever rode was a little scooter. I was 10 years old, and my first Harley was about 22,” said Long, now 68. “... I sat on that bike and revved the bike, and I felt like I was in heaven.”
For just a second, he said, he was able to have a taste of all those years of riding, one last time.
“It’s the freedom,” he said. “It’s that air blowing in your face and being able to be free.”
Beckom, who previously worked in the hospice industry, said there isn’t another feeling to compare to helping serve someone in their last stretch of life.
“We didn’t do anything extravagant,” she said “But it’s the whole idea that we were able to fulfill his final wish. It was a good feeling.”
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