Wishes work wonders...
Eighteen-year-old Paola grew up in the Dominican Republic, where her favorite thing to do was go to the beach with her friends and soak up the sun. After graduating high school, she moved to the United States, to Allentown, PA, living with her sister’ s family. With the rest of her family still back home, Paola deeply values spending time with what little family she has here by cooking together, playing board games and dancing around. But about a year after her arrival in the states, Paola was diagnosed with leukemia.
She had to endure intense treatments, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, which kept her in the hospital for several months. When she was finally given the go-ahead from her doctors for a wish, Paola knew she wanted her loved ones by her side as she embarked on a shopping spree at one of the largest malls in the United States: King of Prussia.
After spending so much of her time in hospitals, King of Prussia was a paradise that welcomed Paola with open arms. Make-A-Wish ® had arranged for a limousine to drop Paola and her family off and each store they visited was eagerly awaiting her arrival, prepared to treat her like a celebrity. She shopped at all her favorite stores, scoring Steve Madden shoes, a phone, a laptop, a camera and a massive clothing haul from Forever 21 and Zara.
When the limo dropped Paola off at home with all of her treasures, she had not only these physical reminders of her wish come true, but the memories of a day spent with her loved ones, celebrating her health and the joy of having each other.