A story from DAVID STANLEY ::THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
A personal story about the Elvis I love.
During the years I spent with Elvis I saw him do many remarkable spiritual healings from his authentic self. Yet, none touched my heart like the one that I witnessed him do during a concerti n 1975.
Part of my responsibilities while on tour with Elvis was to make sure security was in place at the front of the concert stage before his performances. On this particular evening, I went out on the stage like I had done so many times before. Exiting the stage, I noticed a group of people in a reserved area that all of us on tour considered the “VIP” section. On this particular night, there was one young man in the section that caught my eye. He was in a wheelchair. His arms twisted in and his legs turned inward. In his hands he grasped a frame with the words to a song, “Impossible Dream.” I knew this song because Elvis often included it in his set. As I drew closer I noticed at the bottom of the lyrics in broken handwriting he had written, “My impossible dream is to meet Elvis Presley.”
This was one dream that I knew I could make come true. I walked up to the young man in the chair, placed a backstage pass on his shirt, and informed his parents he was coming with me.
I rolled him backstage to Elvis’s dressing room and told a policeman to keep his eye on him, that I would be right back. I entered Elvis’s dressing room where he was putting the finishing touches on his hair just moments before his concert.
“Elvis, there is someone I want you to meet.”
“David, you know better than that. I don’t see anyone before I go on stage.”
“But Elvis, this is somebody special.”
Reluctantly, Elvis said, “Okay, bring him in. This better be good.”
I brought the boy into the dressing room. When he saw Elvis, his eyes lit up. His disease-riddled body began to shake. With every ounce of energy he could muster up, he slurred “ELVIS.”
When Elvis saw him, he was so overcome with emotion he simply walked over, fell on his knees next to the boy, dropped his head in his lap and began to weep. Still grasping the frame the young man began stroking Elvis’s hair with his crippled hand.
This was the most beautiful sight that I had ever witnessed. Elvis had met politicians, royalty, celebrities, and spiritual leaders but in spite of all that, he was most humbled by what he saw in this incredible young man.
After a moment I tapped Elvis on the shoulder, leaned down and whispered in his ear, “Boss, we’ve got to go. You got a show to do.”
He stood up and regained his composure. “Make sure you take care of my friend here.”
“Consider it done, Boss.”
Instead of taking him back to his section, I kept him right next to me, assuring he had the best seat in the house. Elvis came out on stage that night to a massive crowd full of energy and excitement. He ripped through one song after another leaving the crowd begging for more.
Suddenly, Elvis turned to his music coordinator and whispered, “Impossible Dream.”
At the sound of the first notes, the smile on the young man’s face grew bigger. I had an assistant help me pick the boy’s wheelchair up and place it on the corner of the stage. Elvis caught a glimpse of this and walked over and sang directly to him.
Tears rolled down the young man’s face. His impossible dream was coming true, right before my very eyes. The boy held up the frame. It wasn’t until that moment that Elvis saw the handwritten phrase, “My impossible dream is to meet Elvis Presley.” He took the frame from the boy’s hands as he sang the last lyric, “to reach the unreachable star.”
In the hundreds of concerts that I had done with Elvis Presley, there had never been a time where the audience did not give a standing ovation after one of his songs. On this night, instead of applause, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of tears from 20,000 people dropping on the concrete floor of the sold out concert hall.
The love that Elvis showed that night toward that young man was as Christ like as anything I had ever seen in my life. In that moment, Elvis saw the perfection of this crippled man. What’s more, this young man felt his own perfection and saw himself as Christ would see him. He experienced Elvis’s gift of healing firsthand. As a result, his life would never be the same again. This was the authentic side of Elvis Presley that the public was drawn to
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