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AMOREM Patient Receives Phone Call from Peyton Manning

MORGANTON — Peyton Manning made a special phone call on March 3 to one of his biggest fans,
Tammy Haga.

Haga was admitted to AMOREM services in early February with a diagnosis of metastatic bone cancer.
Not long after meeting Haga, her AMOREM care team learned of her admiration for NFL legend, Peyton Manning.

“Tammy had endless amounts of collectibles,” says her AMOREM Medical Social Worker, Mary Beucler,
“She had everything from bobbleheads to bracelets, jerseys to cereal boxes. She even had a printed
biography of Manning that she had read several times.”

Haga mentioned to her AMOREM care team that she had made multiple attempts to meet Manning
throughout her life. She traveled to football games in hopes of an autograph at the minimum, but her
attempts were never successful.

“When Tammy came into our care at AMOREM, we knew that we had to do everything in our power to make an interaction with Peyton Manning happen,” says Beucler.

Haga and her family told Beucler, and other members of her care team, about the Dream Foundation,
whose mission is to serve terminally-ill adults and their families by providing end-of-life Dreams that
offer inspiration, comfort and closure. Haga had attempted once before to fulfill a wish through the
Dream Foundation but, at the time, there was no result.

Haga and Beucler applied for a Dream together by filling out an application and attaching a photograph of Haga to the application letter. Shortly after the submission of the application, Haga became imminent. She was still able to converse with family and loved ones, however, she was entering the dying process.

Beucler informed the Dream Foundation of Haga’s health status, and the foundation notified her that
Haga’s application had been expedited. Beucler knew that this was not a guarantee but, it gave her hope that Haga’s wish might come true.

“The hope that the family had was absolutely contagious,” says Beucler, “I started to truly believe that
an interaction was going to happen because of their enthusiasm.”

The day after Haga’s Dream application had been expedited, she received a phone call from Peyton
Manning himself.

“Words cannot describe the happiness that we felt while we watched Tammy speak with Peyton
Manning,” says Haga’s cousin, Elaine Long, “You could see the overwhelming joy that it brought Tammy. We were beyond ecstatic to witness this special moment.”

Haga was able to converse at the time that Manning called her, and she knew exactly who she was
speaking with on the other end of the line. Haga was able to tell Manning how much she loved him, and he expressed to her that he would be praying for her and her family.

Before the call ended, Manning gave Haga one of his most famous calls, an Omaha, which brought Haga a sense of peace that the AMOREM care team had never witnessed from her before.

“This family will forever be grateful to the Dream Foundation for making this dream a reality and to the AMOREM staff who worked so hard to help make Tammy’s dream come true,” says Long.

In loving memory of Tammy Haga. April 6, 1962 – March 5, 2023.

To learn more about AMOREM services, call 828.754.0101 or visit www.amoremsupport.org.