AUSSIE giants Parkway Drive have met a terminally ill fan who was too sick to embark on the Hellbound Cruise, buying her cabin back from her before performing a private show.
Katie Bukovac posted in Metalheads Of Brisbane facebook page she had to sell her cabin in the cruise, departing Sydney next month, because she had become terminally ill with chronic heart failure and end stage kidney failure
The Byron Bay band became aware of the post and organised a special meet-up with Katie. She was blindfolded and led into a room where band members Winston McCall, Jeff Ling, Luke Kilpatrick, Ben Gordon and Jia O’Connor were waiting.
In deeply emotional scenes, they hugged Katie and signed her band tattoo. They bought her balcony cabin back from her and invited her to their rehearsals for the cruise.
She later posted in the same Facebook group: “I have never felt so much love, support and compassion from people I didn’t even know.
“So many of you went out of your way to contact anyone you thought could help make my dream of meeting Parkway Drive come true. I think even Chris Hemsworth was tagged.vYou are all absolute legends.”
Katie went on to thank a number of people by name, saying of “Ben from Third Eye Visuals”: “Mate, I am forever in your debt — which probably isn’t that long, but I’ll definitely come back and haunt some fuckers for you!
“To Emma, Parkway Drive’s PA, there honestly aren’t enough words. Your kindness, compassion and everything you did to make this happen means more than you’ll ever know. You’re a beautiful human.
“And to EVERYONE who messaged, shared, called, tagged, reached out or simply said ‘let’s see what we can do’, I will never forget it. Some of the stories the boys told me had me laughing my arse off!
“To my husband and beautiful daughter: you sneaky bastards! Thank you for hiding this from me and organising the most incredible surprise. You are my entire universe, and I love you more than words can say.
“And finally, to the five boys of Parkway Drive, Winston, Luke, Jeff, Ben, Jia, How do you thank one of the world’s biggest bands, who could have simply met a fan, said hello and moved on… but you didn’t. You gave me laughter, memories.and stories I’ll cherish forever.
“But most importantly you gave me your time, your kindness and your hearts and I will never forget that. Your music has meant so much to so many people, but standing there with you and experiencing the genuine kindness you showed me was something completely different.
“It wasn’t about meeting famous musicians. It wasn’t about photographs or saying I met Parkway Drive. It was about the human beings behind the music. And what I saw were five incredibly humble, compassionate and genuine blokes.
“The honour was entirely mine.You boys exceeded every expectation I could possibly have had on meeting my idols.”
Katie’s original post is still up on the page, reading: “It is with the deepest sadness i have to sell our balcony room for Hellbound Cruise 2026.
“Unfortunately i am now terminal and can no longer travel. We are devastated as all i wanted was to meet the boys of Parkway and have them sign my Parkway Drive tattoo.”
The final scene of a video about the encounter shows her having the signatures turned to tattoos.
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