Sixty-nine-year-old Kenneth Broskey was given up to 10 weeks to live, but he refused to check into hospice because his family still needed his help.
According to ABC News, Broskey, who has been battling cancer for some two years, was still working as a part-time real estate agent and a full-time Uber driver in Michigan so that he could try to pay off his home to ensure that his daughter, 46, and his two grandchildren, ages 13 and 9, had a place to live when he is gone.
"Once I pass away, chances are my daughter, who's a part-time waitress at a small restaurant in Livonia, will lose the house we live in because she won't be able to afford it anymore," Broskey, who has terminal cancer—stage 4 oropharyngeal cancer with lung metastases—told ABC News. "So I'm doing everything for her and my grandkids at this point. When you find out you're dying, you realize your family and friends are so important."
Sometime in March, while driving for Uber, Broskey picked up 22-year-old Roland Gainer, a student at Washtenaw Community College, who was planning to meet up with a few friends.
Gainer said once he learned that the dying man was driving for Uber to earn extra money for his family, he felt compelled to help. The two men traded numbers and Gainer enlisted the help of a few friends, including Sebastian Jackson, owner of the Social Club barbershop in Detroit.
"It's so inspiring to see racial and generational gaps be broken for a good cause," Jackson told ABC News. "I wanted to help in any way I could."
They learned that Broskey owed around $95,000 on his mortgage, so Jackson's barbershop held a fundraiser that garnered some $500 toward the cause. Uber learned of Broskey's story and donated $5,000 and immediately began running a promotion, ending Monday, to donate an additional dollar whenever a rider uses the promo code UberPartnerKen.
They set up a GoFundMe account, the story went viral, and as of Monday, the funds needed to pay Broskey's mortgage had been raised in full.
"I admire him so much," Gainer told ABC News. "Oh my God, his love for his family is limitless. This man is dying of cancer, and yet he's still out there driving an Uber cab just for his family every day. That's indescribable love."
Read more at ABC News.