HORRY COUNTY --
Matt Daly of Horry County says his family is blessed. That's why, when he was offered a check for more $9,000 - money that had been raised for his family - he turned it down.
He did it to help other families with children who are in the same situation as his daughter, Caroline.
"She's your typical 4-year-old, almost 5 year old girl now. She loves her dolls, loves her princesses," Daly said about little girl.
Daly is the head pro at Blackmoor Golf Club near Murrells Inlet. He and his wife found out last October that Caroline has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells.
Caroline is happy-go-lucky and full of life and has responded well to treatment so far, but her family has to take her on costly trips to Columbia at least once a month for chemo-therapy.
Organizers of the Caravelle Cup, a charity golf tournament in Myrtle Beach, found out about Caroline's illness and wanted to give the proceeds of their event this year to Daly family.
But Daly said they should give it to another group instead.
"We've been blessed. This community that we live in is a special, special community," Daly said. "With the amount of help that we've seen, our kind of approach as a family is to pay it forward and that's why we chose the Leukemia Lymphoma Society."
So Thursday, Daly accepted the $9,200 check on behalf of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society of South Carolina, the check that could have been his.
And that gesture touched the hearts of all those who swung their golf clubs for a good cause.
"Matt unselfishly said, 'We're not the ones that need to take advantage of these funds that you raise. The Leukemia Lymphoma Society has done a lot for us, they need to be the recipient and not myself'. And I thought that was a very generous offer," said tournament spokesman Matt Klugman.
For her part, Caroline likes to go swimming, play on her swing set and do all the things other 4 year olds like to do. "Sometimes I go putt putting with my daddy," she says.
Her parents are thankful for every moment they have with her. "We know life is precious and we just try to enjoy it one day at a time."
Daly will be running in the Myrtle Beach Marathon for the Team in Training, the leukemia lymphoma support group. He will officially join the team on October 10th, Caroline's fifth birthday and one year to the day since her family found out she had leukemia.
What would you have done? Would you have kept the money or given it to another charity?
