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ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — Marie Osmond cheered with others as a nephew completed a 250-mile, eight-day run in southern Utah to raise money and awareness for the hearing impaired.
She flew in from Las Vegas, where she performs with brother Donny, to hug Justin Osmond as he finished the run Saturday in St. George.
The singer said she decided to show up after she felt her late mother, Olive Osmond, saying on Friday night, "Get yourself off down there and give him a hug for me," KSL reported.
Her mother's mission was to help the hearing impaired, she said. Her mother died in 2004.
"I just felt really impressed that my mom would want me to be here to say, 'You're amazing.' She loved you so much," Marie Osmond told her nephew, according to The Spectrum newspaper of St. George.
"My two oldest brothers are deaf, and to bring awareness to the deaf community is something that my mother would be so proud of," she added.
Justin Osmond, who was diagnosed with a 90 percent hearing loss as a young child, launched the Olive Osmond Hearing Fund in honor of his grandmother.
The 38-year-old son of Osmond Brothers founding member Merrill Osmond, he staged the run from his hometown of Ephraim to raise money for new hearing aids for 25 hearing-impaired children in Utah.
"Two hundred and fifty miles, 25 kids, mission accomplished!" Osmond told a crowd after finishing the run. "We reached our financial goal. We're going to help all 25 kids ... There were many times I didn't think I was going to make it. But I kept thinking of the kids, and they kept me going."
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