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True dream for dying man Photo by Jim Craven J.C. McNease's last wish is to see his daughter and take part in a family reunion before he dies of cancer. White City resident will get to see family in Louisiana By DANI DODGE WHITE CITY -- During his 51 years of life, J.C. McNease has been a farmer, a truck driver, and a business owner. All those years, he also was a workaholic spending precious time away from his family. In March, when he learned he had incurable brain cancer, his strongest desire was to hold the people he loved closer and make sure they would be OK without him. Most of all, he wanted his eldest daughter -- with whom he had reunited four years ago -- to meet his family from Louisiana. He wanted the connections to be strong even after he's gone. But his health problems have devastated his finances. His trucking business, Make-A-Way Trucking, is in ruins. He's being thrown out of a home he was trying to buy because he couldn't make the payments. He's looking at bankruptcy. There's no way he could afford to fly to Louisiana for a family reunion. Then, McNease learned about the Dream Foundation from a counselor at a cancer center. The Santa Barbara, Calif.-based organization grants the dying wishes of terminally ill adults, and after confirming McNease's condition with his doctor, decided to help out. Although the Dream Foundation is counting on the Rogue Valley community to contribute frequent flyer miles to replace the cost, it bought the plane tickets McNease needed. "It was my big dream to get my family back together again," McNease said as he rested in his favorite blue recliner in the living room of the White City home he has to leave at the end of the month. His head is shaved of the last strands of hair that remained after chemotherapy. He nods off easily, despite the prancing and pouncing of his two beagle-sized cats, Gizmo and Spaz. When he was a young boy, McNease's parents divorced. Most of the 12 children went into different foster care homes and were raised separately. Yet they have always stayed in touch. Most still live in Louisiana. His childhood made it even more painful for McNease when he and his first wife divorced and she left with his daughter, Christy. Although he married a woman with two girls, and had another with her, he still continued to search for Christy. He found her four years ago on Thanksgiving Day. "It's been great," Christy McNease said from her Grand Terrace, Calif., home. "I can talk with my dad about anything because he's not judgmental." Christy and her 5-year-old daughter, Yvette, will travel with McNease to the family reunion next week, and then stay on another week. She said it was hard to finally find her father after 13 years, only to know she's going to lose him to cancer. But she said getting to know his brothers and sisters will help keep the connection going. Now a nurse, she's one of only four people in the family who have completed college. "He proud of what I've done and wants to show me off," she said. Wanda Drinkwine, of Golf Breeze, Florida, McNease's 53-year-old sister, said she's grateful that McNease will get to be with his family one last time. She said it's been difficult for her because he's been feeling poorly when she calls. "He said, `But if I can just make it to see my family, then I won't worry about it anymore,"' Drinkwine said, crying. McNease said he's just hoping the reunion will be full of laughter, and not tears: "I just hope it's a happy time and everyone can remember me in good spirits," he said. Then, he said, he'll go in peace. "I always said the good Lord has a reason for everything, and I guess he's just got better plans for me somewhere else." (United Airlines and Northwest Airlines have established frequent flier accounts where the Dream Foundation can collect miles for other patients. Call (805) 564-2131 for more information.) Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA