Two separate stories that began in Florida will merge Monday in Orem at Utah Valley University.

That's where J.R. Richards, frontman for currently on-hiatus alternative rock band Dishwalla, will perform a benefit concert for 9-year-old Provo resident Hannah Laursen.

Besides the completely coincidental Sunshine State connection, the other common denominator leading Richards and Laursen to cross paths is much more cloudy: Cancer.

Richards sings about its aftermath in an inspiring and powerful way in the title track to his new solo album, "A Beautiful End."

Laursen, meanwhile, appears to currently have the upper hand in her four-month battle with the disease.

The pair provide two stories that add up to what promises to be one special event.

'An angel gone ... moved on'

Richards -- whose unique vocals helped power Dishwalla's hit single "Counting Blue Cars" to No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 1996 -- was at home in Brevard County, Fla., in November of 2006 when he received a call from good friend and popular artist Michael Godard.

His friend had a simple request. Would Richards come sing at the funeral service in California for his 16-year-old daughter, Paige, who died after a 17-month battle with brain cancer?

"I was, like, 'Absolutely!' And I dropped everything and flew out there," said Richards in a recent phone interview.

The service impacted Richards in a big way, even though he admitted that he didn't know Paige all that well -- at least before the funeral.

"First off, you walk into this huge church and there's probably a thousand people in this place ... and everybody wants to come up and talk about how much she had affected their life in a positive way," said Richards. "Basically, you listen and you learn the story of somebody's life if you sit through the service listening to all the stories. I was so impressed and inspired by everything that she had done. I mean, she couldn't even drive a car yet, and she had really affected so many people in a positive way that it spilled over on my way home. I was flying back to Florida, and by the time I landed, I had finished writing the song 'A Beautiful End.' The song itself is about that day and the celebration of her life. It's meant to be a positive thing."

Richards said the creative burst that hit him on the plane was unique, in that he usually doesn't begin crafting lyrics until after he has developed a song's melody. But when your muse calls, you just roll with it.

"I don't really feel like I have any control over it," Richards said of those serendipitous moments of creative inspiration, "because I can spend a year trying to make an idea that I have, you know, finish it and try to make it something that is worthy of sharing with other people. But I have zillions of ideas that will never be heard by anybody else because I just don't think they're that good. And there are some things that just flow out of you -- it's almost like an out-of-body experience -- and it's done quickly. I don't really have an answer for that."

A devastating discovery

An answer is what Provo resident Leigh Laursen was seeking when she took her 9-year-old daughter, Hannah, in for a checkup while visiting her parents in Pensacola, Fla., during a three-week vacation in June. The question: Were the severe headaches Hannah was experiencing -- further complicated by fatigue and nausea -- the results of migraines or something more serious?

A CT scan -- which combines X-ray equipment with sophisticated computers to produce images or pictures of the inside of the body -- revealed a large tumor in her brain, right above her hypothalamus. Hannah was placed in an ambulance for transport to a larger children's hospital in Pensacola, but, according to her father, Craig, her heart rate began fluctuating wildly due to extreme pressure on her brain, creating more of an emergency situation. The ambulance was met en route by a helicopter, which transported Hannah the rest of the way.

Over the next six days, Hannah endured three separate surgeries to relieve the pressure on her brain and remove as much of the tumor as possible. A biopsy revealed it to be a malignant and rapidly growing tumor.

Since returning to Utah the second week in July, Hannah has undergone two rounds of chemotherapy and a month's worth of five-days-a-week radiation treatments.

Hannah said the radiation treatments involve putting a mask on, with a "machine that goes around different places and it, like, takes pictures of my brain, I think. And it puts radiation in my brain. ... It's not really scary because it only takes, like, three minutes."

Hannah's positive outlook on her situation has been one of her greatest allies in her battle for health, said her father.

"That's kind of her thing. She always wants to be happy, and she's handled it a lot better than myself, I know that," Craig Laursen said. "I think probably the biggest thing that I've learned out of the whole thing is that optimism works a lot of times. She's just happy all the time. She wants to be happy, it doesn't matter what situation."

An example of her enthusiasm for life can be found in her response to one of the tell-tale signs of cancer treatment -- losing one's hair. She was playing in the family's front yard when she noticed her hair coming out in clumps. She turned what could have been a traumatic experience into a game.

"She was just pulling out huge chunks of her hair and she was actually chasing the neighborhood kids around with it," said her dad. "It was kind of creeping them out. She had big handfuls of hair in each hand and was chasing them around."

"They just ran and screamed," Hannah said, remembering the incident with a laugh.

Though Hannah has been waging a physical battle of wills, her mother, Leigh, says her greatest strides have been mental.

"She's changed in some ways, but they've all been good," said Leigh, noting that Hannah is more thoughtful, more mature and more aware of when others need her support or help.

"She talks all the time about all that people have done for us. That is one thing that has helped our family and, probably, our attitudes about this whole thing. We've seen an ugly side, maybe, of life -- but we've seen such wonderful things in people. People have been so giving and loving. People that we don't know. People that have never met Hannah have been touched by her story and wanted to help in some way. That, to me, has been one of the biggest miracles.

"On my part, I would just like to say thank you to those that we know and those we don't -- to those who have planned big things and to those who have done small acts of kindness for our family."

When it comes to those who have helped her and her family, Hannah gets right to the point.

"I think they're awesome, and awesome, and more awesome," she said. "And I love them."

Help in a crisis

Monday's benefit concert in the Grande Ballroom at UVU is promoted by the Second Chance Foundation of Utah, an organization that encourages individuals to get involved in making a difference in the lives of others -- whether that be through donations of time, skills or financial resources.

Foundation president Neil Warner said helping families like the Laursens in times of crisis fits in perfectly with his group's primary mission.

"Her situation is exactly what the foundation looks for," said Warner, a Daily Herald sports writer by day -- and night. "We want to help families in times of crisis. We want to ease their burden and let them know that they are not alone, that the community is here to help. I have found so many people want to help, they just need to know about the situation and they need to know how to help. We hope to make people aware of those in need and create a support group of people who are willing to help."

In addition to being for a good cause, Warner is just plain jazzed to see J.R. Richards perform.

"Many people that I have talked to, don't recognize the name J.R. Richards," said Warner. "They may have heard of Dishwalla, but many of them don't know what kind of treat they are in for. He flat out has the best vocals I have ever heard, and to hear him perform in a two-man acoustical show is going to blow people away. I can promise you, people are going to walk out of there thinking one thing -- 'That was awesome!' "

He's no more excited than opening act, Salt Lake duo Melody with Tyler Forsberg. The pair had sent a query letter to Richards's booking agent some time ago, mentioning that if he ever performed in Utah and needed an opener, they would be happy to oblige. That e-mail was forwarded to Warner, who lined the duo up.

"When you hear people say 'right place, right time,' it rang very true in this case for us," said Tyler Forsberg. "What a great honor for us to actually get to share the stage with someone we have both looked up to musically. But what an even bigger honor to be asked to share our talent in order to help Hannah and her family. This is going to be a date we will never forget."

Beautiful endings

The song "A Beautiful End" -- and it's emotional accompanying video -- is a tear-jerker. Its sincerity and depth has shown the propensity to tug at the heartstrings of even casual listeners.

Which begs the question, how did Richards's artist friend react to hearing the spirit of his daughter's funeral captured in lyric and melody?

"Well, you know, it was pretty powerful," said Richards. "It's one of those things that we don't really talk about that much. Sometimes we do shows where I go and play at gallery events at galleries he has, and if he's there, I won't play the song -- it kind of depends where he's at. I know it's tough for him still, very tough for him. But then on the other end of it, I know that the last anniversary of when she passed away, I think, a friend of his was telling me that ... as he went to the cemetery, he just sat with the headphones on and just kind of listened to it over and over again.

"I don't think he's actually seen the video either, which is interesting, too, because the video itself, usually I'm not a big fan of doing very literal representations on video, but in this case it seemed like the right thing to do. But I know it would be tough for him to see."

As for Hannah Laursen, the latest news is as good as it gets. She had been scheduled for a third round of chemotherapy when it was discovered that her brain tumor was completely gone. That set up her month of radiation treatments -- the last of which was Wednesday.

She celebrated by going out for ice cream -- though she couldn't definitively recall what kind.

"I think it was cookie dough or something," she said, her voice betraying a slight scoop of doubt.

In the months ahead, Hannah's condition will be monitored with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which produces detailed pictures of internal body structures, to make sure the tumor hasn't returned -- and she most likely will be on hormone therapy for the rest of her life.

"We've seen the surgeries and the chemos and the radiation treatments and all," said Leigh Laursen of her daughter, "but more than anything, I've seen her grow up some -- and it's been amazing to watch because it's been in such a short period of time. You don't usually get to see that maturation in kids."

A beautiful end in its own right.

The ultimate goal of Monday's benefit concert? To make beautiful ends ... meet.