- Say hi to everybody. - Hi. - You wanna tell them
something about Mommy? - Mm-hmm. She's my favorite person in the whole United States in the whole wide world. - Any stuff you wanna talk
about with Mommy passing away? - Mm-mm. - No? - No. - What about where I'm gonna be always? - In my heart. - That's right . This whole thing is for you so that years down the line, you have these memories, and you hear these amazing
stories about your mommy. - Mm-hmm.
- How cool is that? - Cool.
- Your mommy's a rockstar. - You're a rockstar. My name is Ellie and
today is my 40th birthday. Two weeks ago, I was given
days or weeks to live. My hope for all of you, including my son, is to be happy and joyful and kind. - Cellphones off.
- Dad, is your phone off completely, like even off vibrate? How cool is that? - You guys all good?
- That's awesome. Rock on ! My story starts, I served at the Baha'i World Center from '97 to '98. In the Baha'i faith, some
of the principles are, oneness of humanity, elimination
of all sorts of prejudice. I learned there that I don't
need anything as long as I have faith and the push
to get through things. To me, my faith has
always been very strong and that hasn't shifted
at all with the diagnosis, it's actually made it stronger. I got diagnosed with breast cancer in the left breast in 2012. I went through the whole chemo, radiation, double mastectomy. I had, probably about
four minutes of why me. And I literally go over
it in five minutes. The lens just was different,
I said, why not me? To me, it was like I was supposed to learn and grow from this experience somehow. And got re-diagnosed and they told me I have a brain tumor as well. That was the first time that I'd really been scared that I was gonna pass. So again, I just get over it. Okay, so let's move on and you fight. The number one reason
for fighting was Jalen. - My mom had cancer three times. She told me that she has cancer again and they can't take care of
it, so, Mommy has to die. I'm holding a bear and it has a heart that represents love. I named it Ellie and this
is the heart under there. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
- No, it's okay. - Thank you. - Isaac, Jalen's dad,
he just cried and said, "You've been the most amazing mother. "He's attached to you in a way
that he can never be to me. "I don't know what to do with Jalen. "I don't even know where to start." He's been here a lot,
and he's really trying to connect more with Jalen and
get stuff taken care of. - Isaac is like my son. I always loved him,
and Jalen is her child. She doesn't have to worry about them. I always remember 40
years ago at 7:34 a.m., God gave her to us. And she's especially my rock in the life. I'm gonna real miss her. - Is that your phone?
- It's my phone, yeah. - Didn't we tell ya turn it off? - I put on the vibrate. - No, you need to turn it off. - He doesn't know how to turn it off. - Up until a month and a half ago, I was like fight, fight, fight. No matter what, for your
child, you fight, fight, fight. But, the pain in the last month and a week is just excruciating. I can't eat, I can't sleep. I just wanna pass, and
be even more of who I am, and my soul can radiate. I've tried to live my
life the best way possible and I don't have any regrets. - Oh my, god ! - [Man] It's our song baby! I couldn't find Return the , so this is the next one. Happy birthday. - [Woman] All our plans
for this four days. - Let me tell you something about Ellie. Ellie has the cleanest
house amongst all of us, even with all of the
tests and difficulties. - No I had friends clean up 'cause I got tired of seeing junk all over my house. Jalen, come here. You have a test tomorrow. You need to go and do your words and write them out right now, please. - Okay. - And take your time, get it done quick. - [Woman] Can I sit with you? - [Man] What's happening on Saturday? - I don't want a funeral. It's just people to come,
share their memories. I just have this feeling that the next day it's all gonna go downhill. For some reason February ninth
is standing out as the day. Which is Tuesday. It's going fast. - Thank you so much for coming. - Yeah, oh, man. - This day has been unbelievable. - Yeah? - Jalen's a big dancer, like his mommy. A few years back, he started
loving Andy Grammer's songs. - She has no idea you're
coming and he has no clue. - Cool. - It's just the ultimate service. - And then, Andy was on
Dancing with the Stars. We would watch and he's
just like this, mesmerized. He's a big fan. - We've been crying all day.
- I can't wait to meet her. Oh, I'm gonna fall apart in two seconds. - [Jalen] Superhero. - [Ellie] I wanna see
some of these flowers. They were well done. - [Andy] Hey, man, I'm Andy. Nice to meet you.
- Andy Grammer! - Good to see you. - [Jalen] I saw you on
Dancing with the Stars. - Did you? I heard you did, that's awesome. You dance too, right?
- Oh, my goodness. - [Andy] Oh, thanks for the kiss. That's so sweet. How are you, lovely? - I cannot believe you did this. Thank you so much.
- It's really good to see you. - Jalen.
- I always hear your songs. - [Andy] Yeah? - And I saw you on Dancing with the Stars. - They told me about this, so I wrote you guys a song. Is that okay? Can I sing you a song?
- Of course. - I wrote you a song.
- Yay. - 'Cause I lost my mom, too. This is a song that when
you really miss her a lot, you should sing this one. ♪ Oo ♪ ♪ Let's make a deal before you go ♪ ♪ A little secret only we both know ♪ ♪ When you're watching from above ♪ ♪ I'm gonna close my eyes ♪ ♪ I'm gonna kiss the sky ♪ ♪ And think Ellie, Ellie, Ellie ♪ ♪ Keep watching over me, yeah ♪ ♪ So high ♪ ♪ Say, Ellie, Ellie, Ellie ♪ ♪ Keep watching over me, yeah ♪ ♪ If you sing wherever you are ♪ ♪ Our worlds can harmonize ♪ ♪ Oo ♪ You were awesome in that. It's so good to meet you.
- Good to meet you, too. - We're friends now, okay?
- Yay. - That's how this works. If you ever get sad and the
song that I wrote doesn't work, then just give me a call
and we can talk about it. Okay? All right. Should we sing her Happy Birthday? - [Jalen] Mm-hmm. ♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪ ♪ Cha-Cha chicken ♪ ♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪ ♪ Cha-Cha chicken ♪ ♪ Happy Birthday, dear Ellie ♪ ♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪ ♪ Cha-Cha chicken ♪ - Thank you. How cool was that? Dream come true, right?
- Mm-hmm. Cha-cha-cha. - There's no words, honestly. Thank you, it was amazing. That's something that he has forever. Today is a rough day . I woke up very, very sick. I had a really hard time
taking a shower or anything. This morning I'm super weak. But, today was supposed to be
a birthday party, initially. I decided to turn it into
a celebration of life. Originally, the idea was to dance. I can't dance, obviously, now. But, there will still be some fun stuff. - [Justin] Did your
friends get you strippers? - Nope. That was the plan, but it didn't work. A ton of friends, they were like, we need to bring you strippers, we need to bring you this, we need to bring you that, 'cause I've always done
the right thing in my life. I just joked, I'm like,
I like Travis Van Winkle. I'd like to see him. It just turned into, we
request Travis Van Winkle, as Ellie's last, dying wish, shirtless. I never said this to people. It was just a joke that, oh,
Travis Van Winkle is cute. I'm like, oh, god. That's all I need, now. A stripper comes and my hip
breaks in the middle of it. That's all I need. - You know, her real name is Elham. The meaning is inspiration. We didn't know when we named her Elham how much inspiration she had. Thank you for supporting
me and loving me so much to be here for my celebration of life, 'cause that's the plan for tonight. It's not about crying all the time. It's not about being sad. It's about celebrating who I am. I don't have too many days left. I know it and I feel it. What I wanted to do tonight are
for people to share stories, just kinda say memories
and say our goodbyes. Who wants to start? Come sit next to me. - I remember the memories of Mommy and me when we had hugs and we went out. She's my Mommy. - You're gonna be fine. Mommy's always gonna be with you. Always in your heart. Let me tell you, you are the best thing that's ever happened in Mommy's life. The moment when I have to say goodbye, as a parent you never want
to leave at such a young age. It's not like it's easy
and I'm totally fine. I'm leaving my child. It's still hard no matter what. You're leaving your child. Thank you for being you,
always, under all circumstance. I look forward to you visiting me and haunting me, for
lack of a better word. - Who you are is such an inspiration. I know everyone feels the same way I do. - I thought I was your best friend. I don't know what all these . I can't begin to tell
you how much I love you. - I'm grateful that I
personally got diagnosed with cancer, because I got to meet you. - Goodbyes are only for
those who see with the eyes, because for those who love with the heart, there are no goodbyes. - I remember the day you got diagnosed. It broke my heart. There wasn't one day
where you said, why me? As your little, annoying brother,
I've been inspired by you. - Hi, everybody. Thank you for allowing
us to tell Ellie's story. Ellie, thank you for everything. Just one more thing, hold on. - Who's coming again? - Thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here. - No, thank you. - This is such a beautiful
way to celebrate your life. To be here shirtless and
a small naked part of it. ♪ You are beautiful ♪ ♪ You're beautiful ♪ ♪ Beautiful to me ♪ - Just being around all that love. Everyone in one room to
be celebrating my life is just such an honor and such a blessing. Who am I for all this
to be happening around? I hope to add to tonight
the idea life is short. Be happy, be kind, be joyful, because this may be your last day. ♪ And you are free ♪ ♪ You are free ♪ Just be blissful. Not but just imagine bliss in your life and the right bliss will come. ♪ You are beautiful, beautiful ♪ - Hi, everybody. Welcome to my Mom's celebration. I had a beautiful, nice Mommy. She's watching over me right now. ♪ Happy Birthday, dear Ellie ♪ ♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪ ♪ Cha-Cha chicken ♪ - I want to be remembered as mother first, faithful, loving, giving, loud , positive and just serving. My hopes and wishes for
Jalen are just for him to be a good person, to keep his lovable personality and stay
involved in the faith. It's okay to stray a
little bit here and there. Everybody has their own
decision ultimately, but for me, that's so important for him. I feel like he's gonna be fine. My last request for all of you is to enjoy every single second of your life, because you have no idea
when your last moment is. Live life to the fullest. Be powerful in your own skin. Be kind and give back to the world. Be happy. I love you all. When your time is come,
hopefully not for many years, I'll be there to greet
you all on the other side.
