The famous ‘Thanksgiving Grandma’ Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton have been together for nine years!
The viral Thanksgiving story that warmed hearts since 2016 happened again as strangers-turned-friends celebrated the holiday on Nov. 28. However, things looked a little different this year after Dench’s breast cancer diagnosis, she revealed to CNN.
“I just recently finished chemotherapy, so I’m not 100 percent yet,” Dench, 67, told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Thanksgiving morning. “And I live about two hours from where Jamal lives. And so we decided that this year would be the best for my health if I stayed at home.”
“We will face each other,” she added. “I was so looking forward to meeting his family and eating turkey with everyone, but we have to accept things as they are and I’m sure next year will be much better.”
This Thanksgiving is extra special given Dench’s diagnosis. On October 16, Hinton, 25, shared a message from Dench announcing the news in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The grandmother accidentally invited the teenager to Thanksgiving in 2016. Since then, they have spent the holidays together
Dench wrote that after undergoing a lung CT scan, a mass was discovered in her breast when she underwent a lung CT scan. “Cancer does not run in my family,” she wrote, adding that all her previous mammograms had always been negative.
Luckily, Dench said her friends and family were “quick to come to my rescue and support me through everything.”
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She also said she doesn’t plan to let her diagnosis change anything about her annual tradition with Hinton.
Their story began in 2016, when Hinton, then 17, received a text message from an unknown number.
“The note said ‘Thanksgiving at my house’ and it was from grandma, but I was like ‘When did my grandma learn to text!?’ So I asked her for a picture and it definitely wasn’t my grandmother,” Hinton told PEOPLE at the time.
Wanda Dench.
Jamal Hinton/X.com
Hinton then jokingly replied to Dench’s text, writing: “Can I still have a plate?” — and she replied: “Of course you can. That’s what grandmothers do… they feed everyone.”
And just like that, a friendship was born.
“It was so unexpected, but she was so sweet about it. It was a reminder that there are still good people in this world,” Hinton told PEOPLE.
Jamal Hinton Teases Annual Celebration With ‘Thanksgiving Grandma’ Wanda Dench: ‘9. year soon’
Over the years, others have joined the annual celebration, such as in 2021 when Hinton brought his girlfriend, though others have sadly left the table, such as Dench’s husband Lonnie, who died of COVID-19 in 2020.
Ahead of Thanksgiving 2023, Dench and Hinton opened up about their cordial relationship in an interview with Today. “He’s been in my heart my whole life,” Dench said of Hinton, who added, “It’s amazing to have her as a friend and as family.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education