Former Flight Attendant with Terminal Cancer Is Granted 'Last Wish' to Fly Again: 'I've Had a Lovely Life'
Janet McAnnally, who has stage 4 lung cancer, was a TWA hostess in the 1970s for seven years
A former flight attendant returned to the sky for one last trip amid her battle with terminal cancer.
Janet McAnnally, who has stage 4 lung cancer, has had a lifelong love affair with travel, which she fulfilled for seven years as a TWA hostess in the 1970s.
Recently, the California woman’s wish to fly once again was granted when she took to the air thanks to a program through the Calaveras County hospice from where she is undergoing treatment.
"I've had a lovely life,” McAnnally, 79, told CBS affiliate KOVR-TV. “So I think, one, I made that decision to stop the treatments and the physicalness of stopping made my life so much more, able to enjoy it and do things and not just sit huddled in a chair all day.”
Instead, with the time she has left, McAnnally is choosing to enjoy every minute — which meant climbing aboard a small plane with local pilot Rob Davids, who helped make her dream a reality.
As they flew above the Gold Country and High Sierra regions, McAnnally soaked it all in — and even took the controls for the first time ever.
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"I think I was more excited than emotional about it until when it was done and I realized what we had just done," McAnnally said. "It had rained earlier and so the land just looked beautiful. All the sudden, the moon began to come up and that got me, I think I got a little emotional."
After the flight, Davids presented her with a log book that showed her accomplishment as a cherished keepsake.
McAnnally said she has “accepted” that her life will end soon.
“I'm not fighting against it," McAnnally said. "It's just something that's happened and I've got to deal with it."
She added, "There's no point, even if it's only a month or two left, to sit around and do nothing and moan and cry about it; better to cry happy tears and enjoy as much as you can."
