ORANGE, Calif. (AP) — Before she died, Josefina Saldana-Gaffoglio told her family she wanted them to sell her jewelry to pay off a 35-year-old bill from a California hospital.
On Wednesday, her son fulfilled his mother's wish and presented a $10,000 check to Children's Hospital of Orange County from the proceeds.
Thirty-five-year-old Eric Gaffoglio tells the Orange County Register he spent three days at the hospital after he was born with a collapsed lung in 1982. His parents couldn't afford the $10,000 bill, so the hospital waived it.
Gaffoglio says his mother always referred to the doctors and nurses as angels and came up with the idea to donate her jewelry.
He says his mother collected rings, necklaces and pendants during her travels around the world. She died in January at age 73.