Jelly Roll Grants Terminally Ill Fan Her 'Dying Wish'

Jelly Roll has granted terminally ill fan Sharon Brown’s dying wish, meeting her and making her feel special.

Brown, a grandmother from Columbia, Tennessee, found herself deeply connecting to Jelly Roll’s music after being diagnosed with early onset dementia following a brain aneurysm and dealing with kidney failure.

As her daughter, Melissa Brown, said in a recent News Channel 5 Nashville report, Jelly Roll’s songs have kept Sharon going amidst her health battles. “She had an aneurysm which caused early onset dementia,” Melissa said. “She also has renal failure, and she has chosen not to do dialysis. It's a lot. It's a lot for her.”

Sharon Brown’s Jelly Roll fandom has led to her convincing Melissa and her granddaughter, Naveah, to get matching “Bad Apple” tattoos – the unofficial nickname for the star’s fans.

She’s visited the real-life Whitsitt Chapel, the name of Jelly Roll’s seventh album (and first country album), and attends his charity toy-drive concerts, which is where Melissa found a member of Jelly Roll’s crew and told them all about her mother’s dream to meet her hero.

Melissa explained, “I explained her situation and said her dying wish, her #1 on her bucket list, was to meet Jelly Roll.” Sharon Brown ended up meeting Jelly Roll backstage.

“He gave me so many hugs,” Sharon exclaimed to News Channel 5 Nashville. “He made me feel like I was so special. He told me I only looked 50!”

Melissa called the experience one they’d remember “for the rest of our lives”.

Jelly Roll is the kind of artist who looks after people, giving teenagers working at Whataburger a whopping $1,000 tip last June.

In footage posted to TikTok, Jelly Roll pulled up to a drive-thru with two of his friends, asked the teen at the window how many people were working that night (it was five), and promptly said that he would be tipping $1,000 that night on one condition: that $200 would go to each worker.

“My dude don’t believe me y’all, but we’re gonna hit ’em with the big ol’ bankroll,” Jelly Roll said in a TikTok. Another video, captured by the teens, shows how excited they were to receive that unexpected cash.

In a May 2023 interview, Jelly Roll and business partner Jerry Gift Jr. explained that they “only hire second-chance guys”.

He added: “Every other place in the world is like, 'If you got a felony, you can't work here.' We're only hiring felons. They run the food truck, and it comes out on tour with us some nights.”