Norma Cook, an 84-year-old woman who lived in West Hollywood, was often sad because she didn’t have anyone to talk to. When Chris Salvatore, who was 26 at the time, moved in next door, she had no idea that they would become best friends.
After they met, they became friends for 5 years, and in the end, Salvatore asked her to live with him until she died. It all started after she saw him from her kitchen window.
They said hello to each other, and then he asked if he could come in and say hi. She welcomed him, and they became friends for five years.
Cook lived by herself with her cat Hermes, who also liked Salvatore right away. Salvatore and Cook hung out together a lot. They would drink champagne and talk about other people. Some of their favorite memories are pizza nights, birthday parties, and going out to eat. Salvatore was “the grandson she never had,” said Cook. Cook got sick when he was 89 years old.
She was living alone, and things went wrong in her life. At the end of 2016, she was taken to the hospital with pneumonia and had trouble breathing. She also was told she had leukemia.
She didn’t have any money, and the money she got from social security barely paid her rent. She was afraid she would lose both her house and her cat.
The doctors decided that it was not safe for her to live alone, so she would have to go to a place where she could spend her last days. She didn’t have any family or friends she could count on. Salvatore just couldn’t let it happen.
Salvatore said at the time, “I couldn’t do that to someone who is like my own grandmother.” He suggested she move in with him. “She would only have moved into my apartment. She has strong feelings about where she wants to live the rest of her life, and she wants to stay here,” Salvatore said.
“Moving her in feels like it was meant to be from the beginning. Being there for her makes me feel great.” It wasn’t enough to just give Cook a place to live and care for him when he was sick. Salvatore couldn’t afford to pay for the same, but he still tried to find a way.
To help her, he set up a GoFundMe campaign. “Help Norma Pay for 24-Hour Home Care” raised more than $25,000 in just seven hours. The campaign raised more than $50,000 in less than a month. Chris said, “I’m so glad I was able to give her the gift of spending her last days at home.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend your last days in a hospital, away from your friends and pets.”
I never thought I’d get $50,000. It really was a miracle.” The campaign raised more than $75,000 in the end.
Cook and Hermes, her cat, moved in with Salvatore. Salvatore made her food, and they did the same things they had done before. While eating peanuts and drinking champagne and watching the news. Doctors told her she didn’t have long to live, and they didn’t think she’d make it past the holidays.
Before she died in February 2017, they spent New Year’s together and made a few more happy memories. Salvatore was sad, but he was glad for the time they had spent together. After she died, he told TODAY, “I can feel her watching over me, and it makes me happy.”
“She is no longer in pain and is at peace. She is probably having a glass of champagne and dancing with all of her friends from her life. I will always be a different person because of everything this wonderful woman has taught me.
On the anniversary of her death earlier this year, he posted on Instagram to honor her and their friendship. “Over the years, I’ve gotten so many nice messages about how inspiring it was that I loved my neighbor Norma, but what really inspires me is how much she loved me. When we decide to love someone, a lot of other people feel it, too. “Beautiful, rich blessings were given to people you didn’t know,” he wrote.
