Make-A-Wish 1 | Leukemia Blog

Make A Wish (Part One)

03-26-2009

I don't believe there is a single person who hasn't heard of the Make A Wish Foundation. They are famous for their extremely generous, over-the-top, tell-us-your-heart's-desire wishes granted to children with life threatening illnesses.

We are here to testify that
Make A Wish does not disappoint.

Their organization contacted us on the day Jaymun turned 2 1/2 ( the minimum age required for a child to be given a wish). This was a rather momentous occasion for us as we had not expected that Jaymun might even make it to this age last summer. Where Jaymun's particular leukemia is concerned, there is a sense of urgency involved in making his wish happen. At our last consultation with his transplant doctor, we were warned that Jaymun's oncologists predict with utmost certainty that his leukemia will return. In their eyes, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

Make A Wish wants--I daresay encourages--each child to dream big. "The sky is the limit," their welcome packet states. Our contact person was Jackie at the Make A Wish office in Appleton. She was friendly, helpful and efficient to say the least. In our initial conversation over the phone, we discussed several options for Jaymun. Since Jaymun is not verbally able yet to engage in stimulating conversation about the pros and cons of different wishes, I gave Jackie two different scenarios that I knew Jaymun would be thrilled about.

We met in person with Rick and Lynn, Jaymun's "wish granters". They came out to our house and sat down to discuss the options. (I give extra points to this empty nest couple who sweetly braved the chaos of five children hopped up on the happiness of being sent on a thrilling adventure!) Not only did they generously deliver gifts to Jaymun, they brought something for each one of the kids.

If you are a regular reader of this website, then you know that our Jaymun LOVES crocodiles. I thought that perhaps Make A Wish would send us down to an alligator farm, we'd see our fair share of scaly reptiles and call it a day. We would have been perfectly content with watching Jaymun glimpse alligators and crocodiles up close. So when Lynn told us that we were going to be sent on a six day vacation down to Florida to visit not only an alligator farm but also spend time at Disney World and their other theme parks, we were overwhelmed. Our kids were ecstatic--we never take vacations and needless to say, the last two and a half years have been a bit stressful. The thought of getting out of Wisconsin's winter and going somewhere warm was wonderful. And by the way (not surprisingly) going to Disney World is the #1 wish of most of the Make A Wish kids!

Jaymun is pictured here
snuggling his adorable Wish Bear.

So, as I've said before, our trip is going to be posted in segments. There is no way we could post all our photos here, but I will try to include some of the highlights for you.