A common misconception of Make-A-Wish is that it only grants wishes of children with terminal illnesses. That’ s not the case at all. They focus on children with life threatening medical conditions of all kinds, and 80 percent of Make-Aucky Celebrates its Sixteen
transplant when she was just 6-months-old, but she was still facing complications. Her wish was to meet the princesses at Disney World.
“ Our chapter got really close to Katie and her family,” Hyde recalled.“ She went to Disney, but while she was there, she got sick and spent four days in the hospital. We were all bummed about it, because we’ d adopted that wish.”
Adopting a wish is when a person or persons sponsors a Make-A-Wish request. Adoptees raise the money and stay with the family throughout the process.
“ Make-A-Wish told us they were going to send Katie back to complete her wish because she didn’ t get the experience. That was so great to send her back. Each wish is not just a check off a list. Make-A-Wish cares about making each experience special.”
As popular as Disney World is, it’ s far from the only wish that Make-A-Wish turns into reality. There are several categories of wishes:
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I Wish to Go – Including trips to Disney, London, Hawaii, Australia and more. Six children from the Kentucky chapter visited the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil. ȧȧ
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I Wish to Have – computers, puppies, birthday parties, an RV camper, etc.
I Wish to Meet – All manner of celebrities, wrestling stars, YouTube stars, the Flash, Elmo, Guy Fieri, Michael Jordan, etc. ȧȧ
I Wish to Be – police officers, firefighters and more.
The fifth and final category is a new one.“ I Wish to Give” is for children who are selfless and wise beyond their years.
“ We had one kid who wanted to do a fundraiser for the heart center where they were receiving treatment. We had another, Natalia, who was 10. She was cold all the time from chemotherapy making her weak. She told her wish volunteers that she wanted to warm people from the inside out. She said the only thing that made her warm was her mom’ s soup. So, to fulfill her wish, we made soup for homeless shelters in the community and handed out blankets. We ended up making way too much and gave it to all sorts of shelters in the area,” Hyde said.
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