A local couple from Homosassa in Citrus County had the chance encounter of a lifetime.
It was a rare moment caught on cell phone video that will never be forgotten. Thanks to pure luck, Lisa Villella got to meet the Dalai Lama.
"It really felt like an instant surge of peacefulness meeting him," she said. "Just touching him and having him look eye to eye."
The chance encounter happened at a perfect time. Lisa has a type of liver and kidney disease for which there is no cure. She and her husband, Victor, traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota because Lisa is part of a drug trial. They ran into the Dalai Lama outside of the clinic.
"It was perfect," Lisa said. "It was absolutely perfect. I needed that."
Lisa's future is unclear, so a few years ago, she turned to the Dalai Lama's books for spiritual healing and guidance. It never crossed her mind that she would actually meet him and get to hold his hand. She says the brief meeting has changed her life.
"I have now all the confidence in the world that it is going to work out," she said.
Victor caught the moment on camera and has already noticed a change in his wife.
"She is very positive," he said. "For the condition she has with no cure for it, she is very positive."
"I feel like nothing is going to stop me," Lisa said.
It was an amazing moment that has created so much hope for a couple facing a tough road ahead.