I am a big fan of the Make a Wish foundation which grants wishes to kids with serious and likely terminal diseases. Sometimes the wishes might be as simple as going to a place like Disneyland, but other times the wishes are a lot more involved. I love to check out their stories page on a regular basis to see what they have been up to lately. There is always something heartwarming there. Most recently I saw one that really caught my eye. It is about this 18 year old girl named Zoe. Most of the kids at Make a Wish are younger and so their wishes are often kind of cute things like being a princess or a fireman. But Zoe’s was very altruistic. She has lived with cystic fibrosis all her life, so she spent a lot of time in hospitals. Her wish was to makeover the playroom at her local Children’s Hospital.
She was inspired by the times that she had to spend holidays and birthdays in the hospital. She would brighten up her room with things from home and even homemade art and bright objects. She felt like that really helped her to keep up a positive attitude during that time, and she wanted to bring that same joy to the other kids at the hospital. The new room has original artwork made by kids at the hospital and other fun and bright features. It was exciting for her because the room was finished right before she graduated high school and when she was about to head off to college, opening a new chapter in her life and possibilities for the future, but also a slight sadness to leave the hospital she had spent so much time in as a kid. What a beautiful wish for the Make A Wish foundation!
