OMAHA, Neb. -- An imprisoned father went to his dying daughter's bedside Wednesday, a visit federal authorities allowed only after being deluged with letters and phone calls from across the nation, Omaha television station KETV reported.

Jayci Yaeger, 10, has terminal brain cancer. Her family has been pleading with federal prison officials in Yankton, S.D., to allow her father, Jason Yaeger, to see his daughter before she dies.

On Wednesday afternoon, prison guards drove Jason Yaeger to a Lincoln hospice, where he spent several hours at her bedside. No one else was allowed in the room except Jason Yaeger, Jayci and the escorts.

Sources said Yaeger did leave the girl's side to consult with hospice counselors and get some direction on how to speak with the girl about what she was going through.

Prior to Wednesday, the prison warden had allowed Jason Yaeger three visits to his daughter, but had denied requests for a longer furlough or an early transfer to a halfway house in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The warden told Yaeger it was not viewed as an extraordinary circumstance.

Letters and e-mails from across the nation have reached the Yaeger family and appealed to the prison to allow the man to see his daughter. The family asked the media to share their story with the hope of encouraging prison officials to allow the visit.

He's scheduled to be released to a halfway house in August.

Yaeger asked President George W. Bush for clemency. Yaeger spent four years in a federal prison on meth-related charges. Officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons would not confirm a visit took place.

Officials said they would only comment on a possible visit after a prisoner returned from a furlough.

On Thursday, Jayci's mother described Jayci's condition as minute-by-minute, saying the girl had gone into respiratory distress three times that day.