Mom & Daughter Use Luck to Get to Jackson Memorial

The pair won tickets but had no way to get to tribute until...

By Xana O'Neill
|  Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009  |  Updated 9:42 PM EDT
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Mom & Daughter Use Luck to Get to Jackson Memorial

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Fans swarming the Staples Center sign a Michael Jackson poster outside the arena, which will be the site of his memorial service. A total of 1.6 million people scrambled for tickets - and a California mom is thrilled to be among them.

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Bay Area Woman Uses Luck to Get to Jackson Memorial

Shirley Ford was shocked when she found out she had one a pair of tickets to attend the Michael Jackson memorial. But she had one problem: she had no way of getting there.
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When it comes to long odds, this mother-daughter pair beat it.

A California mom and teen expect to be one of the lucky few to attend Michael Jackson's mega memorial in Los Angeles today after they beat the odds twice -- first winning a pair of coveted tickets from a lottery pool of 1.6 million hopefuls and then finding a way to get to the event 400 miles away. 

"They picked my name, and I got the voucher in my hand but I can't get to the Staples Center," mom Shirley Ford told NBC Bay Area.

"I'll sleep on the steps of the Staples Center. I don't even care about food at this point. I just want to get there."

Ford, who lives near San Francisco, had just 24 hours to exchange the voucher for tickets to the King of Pop's tribute in Los Angeles. She turned to Craigslist and posted an ad begging for help. And to her delight, she got much more than a car-pool offer for her and her 16-year-old daughter Ivy.

Hours after she posted the online ad, a stranger bought the mother and daughter round-trip plane tickets to Los Angeles.

"It's Michael Jackson and he's gone," Ford said as she wiped away tears. "And it's like the last chance I can take [my daughter] there and I can go."

Posted Jul 7, 2009
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