Matthew West, a contemporary Christian artist, met the fan who inspired his new song “Wonderful Life” when he was in the later stages of his ALS battle.
Matthew West, a contemporary Christian artist, had the idea to release a record of songs totally inspired by people’s stories back in 2010.
After hearing from “thousands of people all from around the world,” he put together the CD The Story of Your Life, and people are still coming out to him to share their stories 12 years later.
“The experience changed not only how I make my music now, but how I view the world,” West tells PEOPLE. “I don’t see faces in the crowd at my shows, I see stories being written. Each story is unique, and each story can impact the world.”
A story about a fan named Ron recently shocked West’s world. Ron had contacted West’s nonprofit organisation to inform him that he was nearing the end of his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a fatal neurological disease that slowly robs people of their ability to control their muscles.
“[He told me] that every morning he asks his hospice nurses to play one of my songs called ‘Strong Enough,'” West recalls. “I was so moved by this story that I set up a call with Ron, and we met in the most 2020 sort of way — on Zoom!”
While West went into the Zoom call thinking he could sing and “hopefully be an encouragement,” Ron “had other plans.”
“He spent the entire call encouraging me!” West says. “Little did Ron know that at that time I was battling some serious discouragement and was pretty depressed about the circumstances around me. But here was a guy able to see past his own battle with ALS to show kindness to me. I’ll never forget that.”
West received a call a few weeks after the Zoom informing him that Ron had died. He sat down at that point and began writing his new song, “Wonderful Life.”
“These past couple years have brought us tears, heartache, sickness and pain. But Ron taught me about the joy and the peace that you can find in this broken and beautiful, gone mad and magical, awfully wonderful life,” he says, referencing the song’s chorus.
West integrated bits from his Zoom chat with Ron, as well as some emotional photographs of Ron and his family, in the director’s cut of the music video for “Wonderful Life,” which premieres exclusively on PEOPLE.
The video concludes with a personal message from Ron: “I am blessed, and so are you.”
