Make-a-Wish (Part One)

Our oldest son was born with Congenital Heart Disease called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome a very serious heart defect. It was very scary for us expecting our first child and hearing that he may not live. Fortunately, the heart surgeons had a plan to save his little life and less than one day old he had his first open-heart surgery and a pacemaker put in. After many more surgeries mostly before the age of two, he only improved and is still with us today. We know he's a miracle, especially after losing our youngest, Alaina who also was born with a heart defect, but less serious, and sadly surgery didn't go so well for her.

Last year Spencer's nurse in Portland asked if Spencer would be interested in Make-a-Wish, where children with a life-threatening disease are granted a wish.  At first, I was worried that she thought he was going to die in the near future, but I soon learned after looking up Make-a-Wish that's not what it means.  Of course Spencer would love to have a wish granted!  When I told him about it, only a few minutes of thinking about it he knew what he wanted and since he has never even second guessed himself.  Then we moved to Phoenix and Make-a-Wish contacted us there and began the process of granting him his wish.

Spencer's wish:  He wanted to go to New York City and meet Stan Lee who is the creator of Marvel Comics and heroes like Spider-Man. 

Mark and Erika, two volunteers were assigned to Spencer to make sure everything goes well during the wish granting process.  We got a call from Mark that Spencer's wish was going to be granted.  Stan Lee was going to Comic Con in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they were going to fly our whole family there to meet him.  When meeting a celebrity it depends on their schedule of when and where they are able to meet you.  Spencer was excited and after we realized that Philadelphia was only a 2 hour bus ride to New York City, we decided to do that too, which is what Spencer was hoping for in the beginning.

 

The weekend before our big trip Mark and Erika threw a send off party for us at a fun pizza place and Erica brought yummy cupcakes from Sprinkles.  Mark and Erika are really nice Make-a-Wish volunteers, who do this on their own time and they really enjoy it.

to be continued...