These wonderful photographs capture the moment a 103-year-old lady received the nicest birthday present anybody could have imagined.

When Lillian Grant reached the incredible age of 103, she was greeted with much more than a surprise birthday celebration.

Lillian lives in assisted living apartments in St. George, Utah, and her friends and family had planned an outside cookout to commemorate her milestone birthday.

The answer she gave when Debbie Presland, one of the managers at the facility, inquired as to what would make her perfect birthday gift was, “A nice kitty like Sammy.”

Sammy was Lillian’s much-loved cat, who had tragically gone away little over a year before, leaving her heartbroken.

After hearing this, Debbie determined that she would do all in her power to help Lillian achieve her goal. As a result, she enlisted the assistance of her brother Joseph in order to acquire a feline friend.

He is employed by the St George Animal Shelter, and the shelter soon presented him with a nine-year-old kitten called Marley to care for.

In fact, he had just recently arrived at the shelter since his former owner had to give him up when she relocated to another assisted living facility, where she was forced to give him up because dogs were not permitted.

“We wanted to be absolutely certain that everything would turn out flawlessly,” Joseph added. “If (Grant and Marley) didn’t click, we would’ve tried another cat,” says the owner.

As a result, just before bringing out her birthday cake, Debbie informed Lillian that she would be receiving an additional special surprise. They greeted her with Marley and Lily and immediately slid into her arms for a snuggle. “The cat was instantly attracted to her,” Joseph said.

At first, Lillian was perplexed as to what was going on; she assumed that Marley was just paying her a surprise visit for her birthday celebrations.

Lillian couldn’t believe it when Debbie leaned in and explained to her that Marley was now her cat; she couldn’t believe it when Debbie explained it to her.

The two of them were inseparable very immediately and have remained so to this day. Lillian now refers to her new best buddy Marley as Sammy, in honor of the cat that she so dearly misses.

Debbie’s heart is overjoyed at the prospect of being able to provide Lillian with this wonderful beam of sunshine, which has completely transformed her life.

“Just seeing her response brought tears to my eyes,” she added. “I had tears in my eyes at that point. It was quite sweet.”

Debbie with her sisters Lillian and Marley, as well as her brother Joseph: