The "dying" woman who ran away from home and saved her life (7 photos)

The true story of a 63-year-old woman who had 2 years to live. She decided to spend it on a journey of more than 11,000 kilometers.





Mesanny Wilkins (Annie) was 63 years old when the doctor gave a disappointing prognosis: she had only 2 years to live. The woman had just recovered from pneumonia when she was diagnosed with a spot on her lung. The doctor wasn't sure whether it was cancer or tuberculosis, but either way the prognosis was poor.

He knew Annie was living in poverty and offered to place her in a government-funded nursing home. Annie didn't like to be rude to those who offered to help, so she politely told the doctor that she would think about it.

The doctor then took Annie to the farm to get her affairs in order. As she got out of the car, the doctor gently told her that she had worked very hard all her life. Maybe it's time to rest?

It's funny how quickly things can change...

When the doctor left, the boys from a neighboring farm brought her a small dog named Depesh Toy, which was invented by those same boys. It means “to hurry” in French and is perfect for this little bundle of energy.

Annie kissed the dog's little head with tears in her eyes. Two years. She opened the door of her house and froze, looking around.



It wasn't even a house. Yes, a shack. The farmhouse her grandfather built burned down many years ago. Her house was an old warehouse extension. The wind blew through the cracks, and the room was heated by one small stove. She had no electricity, and water was drawn from a well.

It's funny how quickly things can change. Just a couple of months ago everything was going well. Annie was looking forward to the coming of spring. 1952 was a great year with a bountiful harvest, allowing him and Uncle Waldo to invest in cows, pigs and chickens.

Next spring and summer it will be possible to sell livestock, pigs, eggs and grain. All that was left was to survive the harsh Maine winter.

Uncle Waldo could no longer help with the housework; he was 85 years old and almost blind. So Annie crushed ice, hauled grain, fed animals, and worked from dawn to dusk to keep everyone fed, even when she felt like she was struggling.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. She felt as if her lungs were frozen in ice. She could hardly walk and fell in the snow.

Blizzard

One day severe bad weather came. After a terrible snowstorm, the neighborhood boys rushed on snowshoes to check on Annie and Waldo. They found a woman suffering from pneumonia. One of the brothers went for an ambulance, while the other fed the animals, which were very hungry.

They had to sell everything to pay for medical care. Cattle, pigs and chickens. But Uncle Waldo couldn't stand it. He died quietly while Annie battled pneumonia. She was left completely alone in this world with the knowledge that she had two years to live.

She has always been an unusual woman





Working to death was never Annie's goal in life. She completed only six years of school, after which she had to quit school to help run the household, working with her parents.

Their small farm was located in Maine, one and a half kilometers from the main road. It was built by my grandfather and then passed on to my parents. Annie grew up watching her family work hard year after year. She did not like this life, and she ran away from home as soon as she became old enough. Then she got a job as a rider in a circus. But then a letter came from home - my mother got sick. I had to go back.

Uncle Waldo wasn't really her uncle. He came to the farm as a hired hand to work alongside her father. He put his heart and soul into this old farm. After his father's death, Waldo and Annie's mother became a couple.

Things were going so badly on the farm that Annie and her mother took jobs in a shoe factory to somehow stay afloat. Then the mother died of illness.

In the end, only Uncle Waldo and Annie remained. The locals didn't really like the woman. She did not behave as women should. She didn't dress like a lady, she was too loud and arrogant. In addition, she was divorced twice. The latter was kicked out when he wanted her to transfer the farm to him.

A journey of a lifetime...



When Annie stood in her little hut and her little dogwalking in circles around her feet, the woman thought about her poor mother. She worked until she lost strength, dreamed of seeing the Pacific Ocean, but this was not destined to come true. There was neither time nor money. She worked until she died on the farm until she was buried in the family plot.

Annie decided that she would definitely see the Pacific Ocean for her mother's sake. This might be the last thing she does in her life.

The woman mortgaged her farm and used the proceeds to buy a beautiful riding horse named Tarzan. In November 1954, she put on men's trousers, took a few things for the road, and went to California on horseback with her small dog.

She had nothing but a bedding and some clothes. She attached buckets of feed to the saddle with string and hoped that people across America would be kind to the elderly woman traveling alone.

And people were really kind to her. They often offered food and lodging. One small town even offered her an overnight stay in the local jail, and hotels often gave her free rooms. Farm families opened their doors and gave her food, shelter and horse feed. Some people gave money, and one kind farmer even gave her a spare horse.

Day after day she rode, in good and bad weather. Sometimes her dog rode the horse, and sometimes he ran alongside on a leash that used to serve as a clothesline. A man in Arkansas fell in love with Annie and proposed marriage, but the woman continued on her way.

Living on a farm, she had no idea how many cars there were on the streets of big cities. They scared her horse terribly. Journalists also found her and interviewed her. Everyone was fascinated by the woman who had traveled thousands of kilometers on horseback.

It took her 1 year and 23 days to travel, but she did it. When Annie finally stood before the Pacific Ocean in ecstasy, she prayed for her mother.

Here's the part no one talks about...



When Annie set out on the road, she saw herself as a dying woman. Hunched in the saddle, she rode, hoping for a miracle - the help of strangers along the way. She mocked herself, calling herself an old frog on a lily pad. Stupid old woman. He chases his dream, and along the way he counts on alms from strangers.

But as hundreds and thousands of kilometers remained behind, the illness went away. People looked at her in complete amazement and were inspired. Not one person looked at her like she was just old "Bore Annie" ignoring doctor's orders.

As the miles passed, she sat tighter in the saddle. The woman no longer laughed at herself and began to feel sincere pride. She really minded her own business. People constantly encouraged her. It was the trip of her life!

Journalists and newspapermen caught Annie as she passed through the cities. She started selling self-portraits and postcards to fund her trip, and people bought them.

In one interview, she told a journalist that her second husband left her because she did not give him the farm. She said that the only thing she regrets is that she didn’t give him that damn plot back then. She should have left even then, because this was the best thing that happened to her in her entire life.

The doctor was wrong



Annie spent two years in California. All the newspapers wrote about her, making her a local mini-celebrity.

After two years, she returned to Maine, but not to the farm. The government took her anyway for not paying taxes, but oh well. She just wanted to visit her hometown of Minot again. People hardly recognized her, she was so well dressed. And those who recognized it still shouted: “Hey, look, it’s Boring Annie.”

Annie decided to move in with her good friend, Mina Titus Sawyer, in Whitefield, Maine.

A decade later, Annie finally decided to turn her travel diary into a book. Why shouldn't she become an author? She traveled 11,000 kilometers on horseback alone - few people can do that! The book was published in 1967. She called it "The Last of the Tramps in the Saddle."

It turned out that the doctor was wrong in his negative prognosis. Annie Wilkins lived 24 years longer than expected. Instead of settling into a government nursing home and waiting to die, she rode thousands of miles on horseback, saw the Pacific Ocean, and published a book.

Annie Wilkins died in February 1980, just shy of 89 years old. She inspired many people not to resign themselves to a sad fate, but to live life to the fullest despite all the negativity.