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SALT LAKE CITY — Dayne Nourse, the 14-year-old son of veteran KSL News anchor Dick Nourse, is a huge fan of the martial arts and of actor Jackie Chan.
Last December, the Red Lotus Martial Arts School honored Dayne for his inner strength, for how he has courageously dealt with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or brittle bone disease. That same night, he was informed the Make-A-Wish Foundation was sending him to Hong Kong to meet his hero, Jackie Chan.
The flight to Hong Kong lasted 17 hours, but Dayne says it was all worth it when he saw Chan standing in front of him.
"We talked about how amazed I was to be there and just to experience Hong Kong," Dayne said, adding that he was very nervous to meet Chan.
Chan has made dozens of movies during his career, and his office is filled with memorabilia. It's one of the first places Dayne, Dick and Debi Nourse toured with Chan when they arrived.
For such a huge star, the Nourses said he was very gracious. "We never thought he would be so accommodating, like a friend," Debi said.
Chan also signed autograph after autograph for the Nourses.
It took several months for the Make-A-Wish Foundation to coordinate the trip with Chan's schedule. For the Nourses, they received a phone call on a Wednesday in late April, and they were on a plane to Hong Kong four days later.
But that's how it is sometimes, with an organization that aims to grant wishes to young people who need a lift. "There was that time when those stories were granted only to terminal patients. Now the scope has been broadened a little bit," Dick said.
Now the charity also works to grant wishes for kids who have chronic conditions — like Dayne, who has battled brittle bone disease his whole life.
After spending about two hours with Chan at his office, the martial arts star took everyone to a fancy restaurant for dinner. Many of Chan's friends were there, along with another young woman and family from Texas who also had a wish to meet him.
It was a whirlwind trip that the Nourse family is still talking about, and Dayne has a special set of chop sticks to remind him of it.
"These are the chop sticks (Jackie Chan)ate with," he said, holding them up for us to see. "I said, ‘Mom, put these in your purse!'"
Jackie Chan is working on yet another movie, which is scheduled to come out in 2012 or 2013. Dayne, who's seen all of Chan's movies, says he certainly won't miss this one!
Email: kmccord@ksl.com
