Jamal and viral grandma, Wanda Dench, opted to reunite over Instagram Reside this yr, following Dench’s breast most cancers prognosis.
Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton are celebrating Thanksgiving aside for the primary time in 9 years.
The previous strangers, who met eight years in the past in a mistaken textual content message alternate, reunited to for Turkey Day — and issues regarded slightly completely different this yr.
Dench joined Hinton and his household on Instagram Reside as an alternative, amid her continued battle with breast most cancers.
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The Thanksgiving celebration comes only one month after Dench revealed in a message shared to Hinton’s Instagram and social media pages that she had been recognized with breast most cancers.
Whereas reflecting on their sudden friendship and the way it has positively formed their lives, Dench shared {that a} CT scan for bronchitis uncovered a mass in her breast, resulting in a prognosis of breast most cancers after additional testing.
Dench additionally shared her shock over the prognosis, noting that most cancers would not run in her household and her earlier mammograms had been at all times clear.
“In 2022 I turned 65 years outdated and I believed I might have my final mammogram and never have to consider it once more. However I used to be incorrect,” she wrote within the message shared to Hinton’s socials.
Viral Grandma Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton Spend eighth Thanksgiving Collectively
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Whereas the prognosis initially shocked her, Dench stated she’s been related with “fantastic individuals” all through her therapy. She additionally urged others to make common checkups a precedence, and to cherish life.
“I’ve realized a variety of life’s classes by means of all of it, however what I wish to stress most of all is simply because you might be older, we nonetheless have a life to stay,” she wrote within the Oct. 16 submit. “So proceed getting your checkups, and proceed to stay YOUR life!”
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Hinton teased the reunion in a submit Monday, sharing a collage of pictures of him and Dench through the years, writing within the caption, “Excited to announce that I am internet hosting Thanksgiving this yr for Wanda and I! 🦃✨ Wanting ahead to a day full of good meals, nice firm, and lasting recollections. 12 months 9 coming quickly!🖤”
The pair’s unanticipated friendship started in 2016, after Hinton obtained a Thanksgiving textual content from Dench meant for her household. After confirming the error, Hinton lightheartedly requested if he might nonetheless be a part of Dench for dinner, to which Dench replied, “After all you possibly can. That is what grandmas do … feed everybody.”
Hinton and Dench shortly grew to become mates and their story subsequently went viral, with the pair spending each Thanksgiving collectively since.
They’ve additionally weathered some hardships alongside the way in which, together with the demise of Dench’s husband, Lonnie in 2020, who died after struggling problems from COVID-19.
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In 2021, Netflix introduced it could make a movie, The Thanksgiving Textual content, about their distinctive bond.
Although the movie has but to drop, the streamer says the film will spotlight their deep friendship, regardless of their variations, and their unlikely connection, all because of the textual content mix-up.
“We hope it evokes extra individuals to succeed in out and make connections that they would not ordinarily make,” Hinton and Dench stated in a press release shared by Netflix on the time. “We’re so blessed to discover a real friendship introduced collectively by God from a mistaken textual content message.”
