--- title: Tom Brady Fulfills Young Cancer Patient’s Christmas Wish description: Tom Brady helped fulfill an 8-year-old cancer patient’s Christmas wish by meeting and hugging the young fan after inviting her to visit him. canonical: https://time.com/4161735/tom-brady-cancer-patient/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-27T15:22:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:28:07.686Z og:title: Tom Brady Fulfills 8-year-old Cancer Patient’s Christmas Wish og:description: The little girl is fighting leukemia for the second time og:url: https://time.com/4161735/tom-brady-cancer-patient/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom Brady Fulfills 8-year-old Cancer Patient’s Christmas Wish twitter:description: The little girl is fighting leukemia for the second time twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Tom Brady Fulfills 8-Year-Old Cancer Patient’s Christmas Wish  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 27, 2015 3:22 PM UTC  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 27, 2015 3:22 PM UTC Tom Brady helped [fulfill an eight-year-old cancer patient’s Christmas wish](http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25427121/watch-tom-brady-gives-8-year-old-cancer-patient-the-greatest-gift) Saturday by meeting and hugging the young fan after inviting her to visit him in a touching video. The New England Patriots quarterback said it was his own wish this year to spend time with Hailey Steward, who is fighting leukemia for the second time at a hospital in Portland, Maine. The little girl entered remission after braving a two-year battle with the cancer, [her parents said on a GoFundMe page](https://www.gofundme.com/haileysteward). “Hi, Hailey. Merry Christmas, it’s Tom Brady,” the NFL star says in the video posted on Facebook. “I heard you had a special Christmas wish that you wanted this year, and I’ve got one, too. I was hoping you’d be willing to come down here this Saturday before we leave for New York, and I get a chance to meet you.” Hailey returned back home to Bethel, Maine on Sunday tired and grateful for the meet-and-greet, her parents said on Facebook. “As a Dad this was truly one of the most amazing days of my life to see my girl get her wish,” her father John Steward wrote on Facebook. “My little Hailey is so strong and to see someone like Tom Brady recognize her strength and determination to beat this again is awesome.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4161735/tom-brady-cancer-patient/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4161735/tom-brady-cancer-patient/"},"headline":"Tom Brady Fulfills 8-Year-Old Cancer Patient’s Christmas Wish","datePublished":"2015-12-27T15:22:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:28:07.686Z","description":"The little girl is fighting leukemia for the second time","url":"https://time.com/4161735/tom-brady-cancer-patient/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Football"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4161735/tom-brady-cancer-patient/","name":"Tom Brady Fulfills 8-Year-Old Cancer Patient’s Christmas Wish"}}]}] ```