An odd connection was formed between a man in his 30s and an elderly woman who was standing on the other side of the hallway.
After they had spent several evenings talking to one another and preparing meals together, however, a tragic discovery was made about their lives.
In 2017, a story that moved many people deeply touched a lot of hearts.
All got started when Chris Salvatore, an actor and singer, waved at his neighbor, Norma Cook, an interior designer who is 89 years old and lives across the hall from him.
At long last, he offered a welcome to stop by her place of residence.
As they were both holding champagne glasses, Salvatore and Maria became fast friends, and he eventually started referring to Maria as his best friend.
A few years into their friendship, Cook received the tragic news that she had leukemia and made the decision not to undergo treatment for it, which reduced her expected lifespan to only two months.
The interior designer resisted being placed in a nursing home for the elderly, despite the insistence of the physicians that she needed 24 hour care.
But, the physicians were adamant that she need 24 hour care.
One of her closest friends initiated a GoFundMe campaign in the beginning in order to collect funds for in-home care.
But when the money from these gifts ran out, he decided to take care of her personally instead of relying on the money that had been donated.
Throughout the course of the day, the two of them drank champagne and watched the news together.
The performer stated the following regarding his decision to assume full-time responsibility for the care of his neighbor:
“I believe that kindness in people is a miraculous force that can heal things that physicians cannot,” she said.
Salvatore described her as being very much like his grandmother, which is one of the reasons he stated he couldn’t allow her to be moved to a facility.
The elderly woman defied the odds and lived longer than anyone predicted; nonetheless, the effects of her sickness eventually caught up with her, and she passed away in February of 2017.
While Salvatore wiped his eyes with a tissue, he said:
She was a kind and pleasant lady. She had an effect on the entire world due to the size of her heart and her ability to relate with people of all ages.
He documented his time spent with Cook on Instagram, which is also where he broke the news to his followers that Cook had passed away.
He stated that the most important thing Cook left behind was the way in which she exemplified the worth of love.
Over the years, he photographed a lot of their most memorable moments for them. He made an appearance in both cases alongside Cook’s brother and shared a photo of Cook’s brother paying a long-overdue visit to his sister.
In a different post, he conveyed his appreciation to his followers and said that his neighbor was moved by the outpouring of kindness she was receiving.
Nevertheless, the posts that he has published that have caused him the greatest agony are the ones in which he continually states how much he is still missing her…
In one from 2017, he described how she had the ability to make him laugh, and in another from 2018, he described how difficult it had been for him to avoid talking to her.
In 2019, he uploaded a video of Cook making an emotional declaration of love to Salvatore. The following was included in the description that the vocalist wrote:
Even though there was a significant amount of time that passed between us and the fact that we were complete strangers, we were still able to love one another.
This beautiful friendship is evidence that two people who barely know one another may make a significant impact on the lives of both of them.
It all started with a casual wave from one person to another across a hallway.