Peyton Manning Flies Fan with Stage 4 Breast Cancer to Home Opener in Denver

Another year, another season chock-full of Good Guy Peyton Manning stories about the Denver Broncos quarterback taking time out of his day to be an unwaveringly good human being to his fans.

The most recent example of Manning going out of his way for a supporter was his response to a letter from Kari Barnett Bollig—a 45-year-old woman originally from Greenfield, Indiana, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2013. 

The Indianapolis Star's Dana Hunsinger Benbow (h/t the Big Lead) told the story of Bollig—who is one of her childhood friends—and how her communication with Manning culminated in the quarterback flying Bollig and her husband to Denver this past weekend for the Broncos' home-opener against the Baltimore Ravens.

As Benbow tells it, Bollig wrote to Manning as part of an ongoing series of letters she's penning to the people in her life who have inspired her most:

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The cancer is Stage 4, the worst stage breast cancer can be. It has spread throughout Kari's bones and into her lungs.

"There's not a whole lot, they can slow it down, but there's not a whole lot they can do," said Kari, 45, who now lives in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

So, as people often do in devastating situations like these, they started telling Kari to cross things off her bucket list. But Kari didn't have a bucket list. The fiery redhead has lived a full life.

But she did have some letters she wanted to write, to send to people who have meant something to her, who have made a difference in her life. They weren't supposed to be celebrity-type letters. She wrote them to school teachers and friends and family. But she did want to write one to you, Peyton.

"I have followed Peyton Manning forever, especially being an Indiana girl," she said. "I just thought, 'Well shoot. I'm going to write him a letter and tell him how much he inspires me, not just because he's a football player, but for what he does off the field.

"It was very personal. It was very heartfelt and I never thought anything of it other than I wrote it and sent it," she said. "I didn't even know he would get it."

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Manning did get the letter, and Bollig was more than a little surprised when she got a call from the quarterback's people telling her he wanted to fly her out to Denver to meet before Sunday's game.

"I kind of stammered and stuttered around," Bollig said. "And then I said, 'Are you kidding me?'"

What followed was a surreal series of events for Bollig: two days at Mile High Stadium, pregame sideline passes for her and her husband, a tour of the stadium, access to walkthrough practices and tickets to Sunday's game.

And, of course, the crown jewel: a personal meet-and-greet between fan and quarterback on Saturday. The two met up at the Broncos' facility after team pictures were taken. Manning was reliably unassuming about everything, says Bollig:

"[Manning] walked right over after he got his picture taken," Bollig said. "It was so sweet because he shakes my hand and says, 'I'm Peyton Manning.' It was cute. It was kind of like, 'I know who you are Peyton.'"

They spoke for 10 minutes, according to Benbow, and the quarterback left her with kind words:

Bollig said Manning told her, "Keep fighting, Kari. I'll be praying for you."

You can read Benbow's full story on Bollig here. And here's a testimony she gave of her diagnosis to Wyo4News in 2014 for the station's "Cancer Survivor of the Month" series:

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

If there's anything I gleaned from this short but impactful glimpse into her life, it's that Bollig will use Manning's words like fire does gasoline.

Dan is on Twitter. Good Guy Peyton is the goodest.