A terminal cancer patient has been reunited with his daughter after 41 years when he was placed in her unit at Calvary Hospital. Wanda Rodriguez said she saw Victor Peraza had been transferred to her hospital, and "got nervous, very anxious, and I said, 'Oh my God that's my father's name...what chance is there it's my dad?'" It turns out it was. Victor Peraza said, "It was fate and hope and a miracle. It was like God answered my prayers."
Rodriguez's parents married when they were young, and split up when she was just a few months old. When she walked into his room to welcome him, she asked if he had any children. He replied, "'I have Gina and Wanda, they're grown now." Rodriguez said, "He begged me to forgive him," she said. "He said he wasn't a good father. I held his hand and embraced him and kissed him, and he started to sing This Magic Moment...I forgive him because I've wanted to meet him all these years. I don't know how long he has left."
The meeting is bittersweet, as Peraza is suffering from terminal cancer. He said, "When you have on one hand dealing with a terminal affliction and on the other you have happiness, you meet someone you always wanted to meet, it's a hard pill to swallow." He has been transferred to another unit because of the family conflict, but Rodriguez has been visiting him every day. She days, "He's at peace. He said, 'Wanda, I've met you. I'm OK. I'm ready to die.'"
