ABILENE, TX (KTAB/CNN) – A terminally ill Texas man is spending his last few weeks surrounded by friends and family.
After moving in with relatives in Abilene, TX, Don Chaney requested a little piece of comfort to remind him of home: Cherry 7-Up, his favorite beverage.
"I don't know. I've always liked 7-Up. I like the cherry," said Chaney, who suffers from terminal cancer. "And the two of them together just gives you a little oomph. I just got started drinking it, so that's about all I drink."
But his simple request proved surprisingly tough to meet – Cherry 7-Up is hard to come by in some areas.
Chaney's relatives searched several stores in the area for his beloved drink, only to return empty-handed.
The search led to the local United Supermarkets store, which also didn't have any in stock.
But it was there that the family found someone willing to go above and beyond for Chaney.
"After I called the Pepsi vendor, they notified me that they're not allowed to sell the Cherry 7-Up here in Abilene, due to some kind of contract they have with Dr. Pepper," said Sergio Aguillon, the store manager. "My store director here, Crystal, I guess pushed me not to take no for an answer every time."
Aguillon said he didn't know this story would end the way it did.
"I went ahead and asked [the vendor] if there was any way. I was like, 'Can you just get a case thrown on the truck to get it over here?' He was like, 'There's no way to get it here,'" Aguillon said.
But Aguillon wasn't going to just give up.
"So, I went to the second-best option, which was our district manager, Cale," Aguillon said. "They ended up having two twelve packs of Cherry 7-Up in their garage. We ended up picking it up that night."
Aguillon said Chaney's family was very grateful for the sodas when he delivered them to their home, greeting him with hugs.
And so at long last, Chaney was reunited with his favorite drink.
"It was flooring. I was surprised, very surprised," Chaney said. "You just don't find that in many stores anymore. It used to be a common thing. I think it's not so common anymore, but you do find a little of it."
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