Mark Cuban Paid For This Couple's Wedding After Cancer Wiped Out Their Life Savings
By Ryan Grenoble
Just because he stars on "Shark Tank" doesn't mean Mark Cuban lacks a soft side.
The billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks recently made Monica and Leroy Wilkinsons' dream come true, paying for the couple's wedding last month. Cuban offered to help after learning of the couple's devastating setbacks, which include multiple miscarriages, a stillborn daughter, and, in January, Monica's diagnosis with stage 4 ovarian cancer.
"It just was seeming like every dream we had was just completely out of reach for everything," Monica told WFAA, reflecting on how their struggles had wiped out their finances. Charity organizations were unable to help cover the cost of their nuptials, either.
But at the last minute, Monica says she got a phone call out of the blue from Cuban's assistant, saying he'd help pay for their wedding. "I was completely floored," Monica told the station. "I thought it was a joke."
No joke. The two were finally married in April, and they have a message for Cuban: Thank you. "I got to feel special and it was all thanks to Mark Cuban," says Monica, who added now she has "a reason to smile."
The generous act is only the latest in a long line of donations by Cuban. Last week, he sent a sizable check to a volunteer fire department that has run into some tough times.
In 2012, after the NBA fined Cuban $75,000 for critical comments he made about officiating in the league, he matched the fine with a $75,000 donation to a group that fights children's cancer.
h/t Reddit
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Ryan Grenoble
National Reporter, HuffPost
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This BBC TV show "That's Life" that aired in 1988 connected Sir Nicholas Winton with some of the lives he saved during World War II. In an operation called <a href="http://storify.com/storyvault/the-c" target="_hplink">Czech Kindertransport</a> Winton organized the rescue and safe passage of about 669 Jewish children who were designated for transport to Nazi concentration camps. In the clip, one of the children, Vera Gissing, embraces Winton and thanks him for saving her life.