Jacquie Slater, WTNH Reporter – (WTNH) – We often hear stories of random acts of kindness around the holidays. A stranger picking up a tab at a restaurant or paying of a bill on a layaway list. It is often called ‘paying it forward.'
Last week, at a Kohl's store in Branford, a random act of kindness touched a breast cancer patient and her daughter.
Recommended Videos
Felice Raucci was diagnosed with the disease back in June. While shopping with her daughter Amy for athletic gear for field hockey, Raucci says they were overwhelmed by a stranger's generosity.
"My 15-year-old came up to me with a few items, one being pink shorts and two pink head bands, and she's not really a girly girl so right away I asked ‘what do you want with all this pink stuff?' And she said, ‘mom I want to wear it for breast cancer awareness month,'" said Felice.
Felice told her daughter to pick one item and Amy went off to finish shopping. As Felice waited in line to make a return, a woman behind her overheard their conversation and asked Felice if someone in their family had breast cancer. Felice responded it was herself. What happened next is something they won't ever forget.
"I was shopping in the Junior's section looking for clothes and this lady came up to me asking me to do a favor for her and she handed me a gift card telling to buy both and represent them well for my mom," said Amy.
Amy thanked the woman and then told her mother about the gift.
"I looked all over the store so I could personally thank the women, couldn't find her anywhere," said Felice.
Now, Amy is sporting her pink headband at every game as well as some practices. Felice reached out to News 8 in hopes the generous stranger would be watching and know how much her gesture was appreciated.
"There are no words. It was just such a loving feeling from somebody I will probably never see again but she had no reason to do that other than the goodness of her heart and it was just amazing," said Felice.
Felice says she is on her way to recovery. She had a lumpectomy and completed radiation last week. Doctors say her prognosis is good because they caught the cancer early.