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Tim McGraw is stepping up to help a Florida father battling stage 4 cancer after he emotionally shared his story with a local TV station.
Michael Hugo, 37, was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma in April 2022, he told ABC affiliate WPBF 25 News, based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Knowing the statistics of his terminal brain cancer, Hugo realizes that it isn’t likely he’ll get to live out one of his dreams: dancing with his daughters at their weddings. Hugo and his wife, Vanessa, married more than 10 years ago, and have two young daughters, ages 6 and 7, per WPBF.
“He wrote that song, ‘Live Like You Were Dying,’ right, and man, it hits me hard,” Hugo told the station, referencing McGraw’s early 2000s song. His voice broke as he said, “one of my dreams is to be with my little girls for their wedding, and be there with a dance, dancing with them. …(I want) to do a duet with ‘My Little Girl’ with Tim McGraw, and do a little video, just an iPhone video, that we could play during their wedding.”
Luckily, enough people shared Hugo’s story on social media to bring it to McGraw’s attention. McGraw, who lost his own father to brain cancer and is a father of three daughters, shared a clip of Hugo’s WPBF story on his social media channels.
“Thanx to everyone who shared Mike Hugo’s video on social media and tagged me in the comments,” McGraw wrote in his caption. “So glad we were able to actually get together in person, meet this amazing family, and make it happen! Mike is saving the videos for his daughters’ future weddings... what a special thing to be a part of.”
The clip McGraw shared included an update in addition to Hugo’s interview. The country superstar stood with Hugo and his family, saying: “Hi guys! I’m here with the Hugo family. I’m glad we’re all here together, and we’re gonna make this happen. We’re gonna work this out.”
“I wanna be here now, and I wanna make those memories now,” Hugo said, per WPBF, “and I want them to know that their dad loves them.”