CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Tracy Demeyer, the terminally ill Chesterfield mother who was visited by more than 1,000 Christmas carolers last month, has passed away. She was 64.
Demeyer, who was first diagnosed with ALS in 2021, died at her home "surrounded by her loving family" on Thursday, Dec. 5, according to her obituary.
Scores of folks turned up in her Chesterfield neighborhood the night of Nov. 16 to help her celebrate Christmas early.
"We're not even to Thanksgiving, and people are out here," Rita Monteiro, who organized the gathering so her friend could still celebrate her favorite holiday, said the night of the gathering. "So at the beginning of the day, you've got to believe that it's going to happen."
Her husband, Steven Demeyer, said it took about a year to confirm the diagnosis.
"It's an ugly disease. It hits people in all different ways," Tracy Demeyer said in a subsequent interview."It started in my limbs."
WATCH: Virginia woman uses viral Christmas coverage to spread ALS awareness
Monteiro said that while the disease "challenges every part of your body," it never impacted her friend's spirit.
"We knew that we had to do this," she said. "She wanted to make sure she could see Christmas, a holiday I can’t imagine her not seeing. You can’t give somebody that’s sick or dying a gift, you can’t take it with you, but what you can take with you, the love that you feel in your heart, the community, knowing how embraced you are."
The couple said the massive crowd of carolers singing beloved Christmas songs warmed their hearts in ways words cannot explain.
"Just so many faces that we'd never seen," Steven Demeyer said. "It really kind of restores your faith in the community."
Both expressed gratitude to everyone who came out to make the night special.
"It takes away the thought of the end being so close," Tracy Demeyer said. "It lets me focus on the happy things."
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