It was a trip two years in the making, involving a collaboration between friends and local businesses, but this weekend, Melissa Renzi said her bucket wish list was fulfilled “beyond my wildest dreams.”
Melissa, a Rhode Island native who moved to the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia last year, has wanted to see the Currituck Outer Banks’ wild horses since learning about them from her friend Christy Miller.
Christy spearheaded an effort to get Melissa, who suffers from terminal mitochondrial disease and gastroparesis, to Currituck, and it all came together this weekend for Melissa’s 48th birthday. Turns out, it was to be a birthday for a wild horse, too.
The first foal of 2019 was born March 31 and the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, which manages the wild herd, determined Thursday the new addition is a boy. But he had a name either way: Renzi.
“The foal is named after a very special person, who made her first trip to OBX the same weekend the foal was born – on her birthday!” the CWHF said. “Melissa Renzi suffers from several terminal conditions and has been in hospice care since 2017. Seeing the wild horses of Corolla was on her bucket list, and thanks to friends and the local community, that dream became a reality.”
Uncle Ike’s Sandbar & Grill and Cosmo’s Pizza Corolla provided meals, Bob’s Wild Horse Tours gave them a ride up the beach to see the horses with guide Jeff Kelly, who coordinated most of the weekend. Just for the Beach Rentals gave Melissa a beach wheelchair to use while she was here. The couple also made a visit to the CWHF rescue farm.
Melissa said she loved getting to pet horses at the farm, and saw seven wild mustangs and even a stallion fight.
“It was beyond what I expected,” she said.
Melissa said she and her husband will be back in the next couple of weeks to see her namesake “Little Renzi.”
- Related story: First foal of spring born to Outer Banks’ wild horses