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The thing that makes 74-year-old Elizabeth Anne Rozell happy is seeing the Pittsburgh Penguins play hockey.

Her eyesight might be fading and she may spend most of the day in bed, but the hockey team is one of the things that makes living with stage IV brain cancer easier.

Rozell celebrated as they won their second Stanley Cup in as many years this June and was overjoyed to see her favourite player Sidney Crosby be awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for his efforts.

READ MORE: The prodigy who became ‘Sid the Kid’: NHL superstar Sidney Crosby at 30

Now in palliative care at her Woodstock, Ont. home, her son, Dane Rozell, hopes to give her one final gift before she dies — to have Sidney Crosby give her a call.

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“She has lived for their games,” Dane said. “This isn’t her wish, she wanted to see a game but she can’t because of [the cancer] … the next best thing is to bring the game to her.” Tweet This

He’s been trying since March to arrange a phone call, but his mother’s declining health has lit a fire under him to make it come true.

An internet campaign that he’s launched on Twitter and Reddit has slowly taken off.

@penguins This is my momhttps://t.co/3mnOx6vVPE

This is my request to

https://t.co/y05sUEzRAP Please help, her time is running short! — 🏒Sidney_Fan🏒 (@SidneyFan45) August 13, 2017

Crosby Fandom

Rozell was born in 1945 in Halifax, a connection that she shares with Crosby, who was born in Cole Harbour, a suburb of the Halifax Regional Municipality.

She was first diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2015 and although she was able to beat it, the cancer eventually moved to her brain. She was diagnosed with the fatal illness in March this year.

Rozell is often quiet as the illness effects her body. Dane sais that Crosby is one of the few things that can break her out of her shell.

“When she talks about Sidney she’s not so conservative,” he says. “I told her, ‘You know mom, there is a photo of him on the internet without his shirt on,’ and she goes, ‘show me.'” Tweet This

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But time is running out.

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Public support

Dane says the response for efforts has been amazing, Rozell has been gifted a signed photo of Crosby by the Pittsburgh Penguins organization and complete strangers have messaged him to wish her well.

“Having internet strangers, people who don’t know you is something very different,” he said. “It put a smile on her face when I told her that all of these strangers were trying to help her.”

But contact with Crosby has still proven difficult, though Dane has been able to secure the phone number of Crosby’s agent and is planning to contact him soon.

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Even if it doesn’t happen, Dane says he’s trying to stay positive.

“I’m not looking for swag or publicity, I’m just trying to do this for my mom,” he says. “Even if this never happens, at least it made her smile.”