Should Make-a-Wish funding only go to terminally ill kids?

31 Comments

  • Rita Treklas - 6 years ago

    My daughter was diagnosed with ALL when she was 10 years old. The years of chemo and hospitalization she had to endure for the two year protocol was truly devastating for her and the entire family. She was treated at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore by a team of doctors who gave her excellent care. When she finished her chemo, she was in the maintenance stage of her treatment and was seen once a month and had to take several oral medications during this stage. After her treatment was done she chose Hawaii as her Make-A-Wish trip. I would have not taken that trip away from her. The chemo, fevers, blood cultures, blood transfusions, spending nights at the hospital is a lot for a child to accept at that age. If it were not for her doctors at Sinai Hospital, she would not be with us today. She is now 27 years old and healthy. I am very thankful for the Make-A-Wish Foundation granting her this trip.

    Sincerely Rita Treklas

  • Mary Lynn Rae - 12 years ago

    This is outrageous. This dad should wake up. I am a pediatric oncology nurse and getting almost 3 years of chemotherapy deserves a WISH! I would like to see him go through this treatment! Although she is done with treatment she will have life long long term effects from the therapy.

  • H.G - 12 years ago

    Im sorry to say this but this dad and people who think like him are heartless!! My daughter was diagnosed with wilms tumor on march 2011 just two weeks before her 2nd birthday, my little girl suffered a lot and she was too young to understand and she DESERVES everything in this world!! Thanks to this wonderful organization (make a wish foundation) they are granting her a wish to disney world this year and i am very thankful to god that she is still alive and will be able to live this dream of going to disney,i hope this little girl gets her wish and experience joy and laughter and much love in this trip,because her father is being selfish not letting her go i just cant understand why he wont let her go? It killed me to see my child sick and crying every night because she was afraid i would give anything to see my child happy and make a wish come true!!

  • netti - 12 years ago

    My daughters best friend was in remission and the make a wish trip to hawaii was celebratory in nature....unfortunately the cancer returned and we lost her the same year....

  • RogerL - 12 years ago

    This article pisses me off. This article is only here to try to make trouble. The media at its best. Trying to get readers worked up. Thankfully this article failed to do that. This is not some kid walking the street. This is a kid that beat cancer and went through horrible treatments and I could care less if that kid goes on a trip to Disney World. Any child who either beats cancer or is currently going through it deserves something positive in their life.

  • VBR - 12 years ago

    Children with cancer fighting for their lives deserve everything. My son is currently in maintenance phase of a 3 1/2 year treatment for leukemia. He is considered in remision, but there is always a chance he can relapse or suffer from long term effects caused by the chemo. Cancer has taken over our life. He made a wish to go to Disney and Make A Wish granted his wish. It gave him something special to look forward to. Without a doubt it was the BEST experience (other than him being alive!) we may ever have as a family.

    This little girl deserves the best, and Make A Wish will give her that. I really hope her parents chance their mind and think of HER! They will not regret the decision.

  • MB - 12 years ago

    Thank you Make-A-Wish - for granting wishes for children with life threatening illnesses!

    What you have done for so many children and their families is life changing for us all.

    Make-A-Wish gives families HOPE - something to look forward to! Some of these children die within months of their wish - Some of these children live to have children of their own. But all of them get ONE wish!

    Those wishing for a trip to Disney get to stay in a magical place called Give Kids the World where EVERYTHING the child looks forward to in life is available in one week. Every single week Give Kids the World celebrates Christmas. For children who have spent Christmas in the hospital - they can have Christmas at Give Kids the World - for some it will be their last Christmas, for many it will be their FIRST where their entire FAMILY is TOGETHER - where their brother or sister isn't in the hospital. First picture with Santa. Hopefully not the last. :(

    No one is promised tomorrow.

    But Make-A-Wish is doing what it can to bring happiness and LIFE to children who have life-threatening illnesses.

    And that is why I am donating money to Make-A-Wish again today.

    Thank you for reminding me how amazing they are.

    Thanks for reminding me of the HOPE they give to children with life threatening illnesses every single day!

  • Candace - 12 years ago

    At 3 yrs old my son had a brain tumor called a JPA his was pretty big and caused a lot of problems although it was not cancer Make A Wish still allowed him to get his wish.

  • TR - 12 years ago

    "don't deprive your child of anything" Eddy Saardi? Really, is that what we want teach our kids - you deserve everything, therefore you get everything you want- they will be in for a shocker when they grow up and find their 4 year college degree has a 50/50 chance of being worth something. On the brightside, in today's US of A you can sit at home, have lots of kids, pay for their food with food stamps, get section 8 housing so you can buy yourself an iphone, not pay a dime in taxes and life is made. You don't even have to work to have health insurance anymore - the government will give you money to buy something that should be a natural priority - your own health and well-being! Maybe Obamacare should include a free trip to Disney for all children because they deserve it, and who is the government to deprive them of a childhood without a trip to Disney! It is absurd for the Make a Wish foundation to have a pollicy of "a child has or had a condition that would be life-threatening if left untreated." What is this supposed to mean - every baby born premature gets a free trip? When I ate a peanut in grade school and started having an anaphylaxis reaction but was saved with good 'ol O2 and some epinephrine, was I actually qualified for a free trip to Disney - I would have most certainly died without treatment? I want my free trip! Maybe they can send me to Hawaii since I should have gotten that trip so many years ago, and I was never informed! This is nuts - only terminal kids should get this, kids who survive have the biggest gift of all - their lives. Any terminal kid and their parents would give up a trip to Disney, let alone anything else you could imagine, for their child's life. Next time I see a donation to Make a Wish, I will seriously reconsider donating at all.

  • Eddy Saardi - 12 years ago

    You have to understand the meaning of life, nobody chooses to be sick or terminally ill. Nobody chooses how long they will live or when their time has come to leave this life we live. This is an amazing organisation that has been created for these reasons and more...Unfortunately not all of these sick children will have a chance to make their wishes come true. There is only one time in life that it is ok to be selfish! That time is NOW, you have to take care of yourself first in times like this, take every opportunity you have to enjoy life!! You only live once and no guarantee how long you will live. One thing is guaranteed in this story, your child will be amazed, happy and in heaven when she will be at Magic Kingdom. She will cherish this trip for the rest of her life. There is nothing wrong with you collecting money if you wish to do so, take that money and donate it back to make a wish foundation. Don't deprive your child of anything especially to try and proove a point. Children deserve everything in this world.

    Eddy Saardi

  • G-Ma - 12 years ago

    11 yr old Jacob is finally coming home today. This was his 2nd bout with ALL. His first diagnosis was @ age 4. He was re-diagnosed in October 2011. He received his Bone Marrow Transplant in March this year. His mother and he deserve what "Make A Wish" offer; the chance to off-set the 24 hr a day 7 days a week horrific ordeal of his treatment. He was hospitalized in October-8 months of chemo, radiation and pharmaceuticals- the fear of what a fever might bring- for a 7 day dream-vacation. HELL YES!!!!!!!!! Thank you "Make A Wish" in helping us celebrate-our boy is coming home.

  • JL - 12 years ago

    My son had had ALL when he was 4, was off treatment and I felt the same way that father did; but not for the same reason. I was afraid I would jinx it. I thought about what my son had gone thru and decided HE DESERVED it and we went to meet his favorite actress who happened to be the twins on Full House. It was a wonderful experience that he and my other two children (who were most definitely affect by his illness with me at the hospital for days on end) have never forgotten. He is now in his 30s and we still talk about that trip. He has also participated in some Make a wish funds raisers with his father. MAKE A WISH IS ONE OF THE BEST GROUPS OUT THERE WHEN IT COMES TO KIDS WITH LIFE THREATENING ILLNESSES. Thank you

  • Crissy - 12 years ago

    That little girl went through heck with treatment. She deserves her trip. Cancer can come back. Just because she is cancer-free now doesn't mean she won't be a month from now. I did read another article stating that thanks to wonderful strangers she has raised enough money to send herself and family to Disney World, and have money leftover that they are planning on donating to charity. Take that evil grinch father!

  • Janet - 12 years ago

    Any child that has gone through treatment for cancer deserves a wish. As does the entire family because cancer and it's treatment affects the entire family. I speak from experience.

  • klb - 12 years ago

    what most people dont understand is that many of the children who are granted a Make-A-Wish grant DO HAVE A TERMINAL ILLNESS. But, you cannot send a child undergoing Chemo, etc to Disney World. There are too many health risks involved and the child is most likely too frail to travel when they are gravely ill. The majority of the children, although awarded a Make-A-Wish, simple cannot endure the physical demands of attending the Wish given to them. Therefore, the child must wait for their illness to get better in order for them to be healthy enough to travel. Thus, the child must be recovering. If you only granted Make-A-Wish to terminally ill children, then by the time they were sick enough for a wish to be granted or the illness was diagnosed, it would be too late for the child and no Wish would ever be fulfilled. Think about it. Besides, who wants to "punish" a CHILD for getting better?

  • angeliklife - 12 years ago

    Come on, but she did have a "terminally ill condition", it's not like she had a plain cold or something.

  • Jeremy - 12 years ago

    Some polls should have a "maybe" option. Like this one. How about Disney and an airline steps up here and buys some nice PR.

  • Deborah Potete - 12 years ago

    How could any father, especially one who has a daughter who has been through so much, deny her such a wonderful opportunity. Tells you all you need to know about him!

  • ab - 12 years ago

    I would love for this father to know that taking a trip to Disneyworld on your own doesn't begin to compare to the experiences provided to wish kids. Make a Wish offers these children an unbelievable trip filled with things that money can't buy. It is a much deserved experience that provides so much healing to a child who is or has battled a serious disease, not to mention their caretakers. My daughter was granted a wish after battling cancer and when we talk about that time in her life she has more memories of that one week trip than of the countless hospital visits, surgeries, chemotherapy treatments, etc. that she endured. When on a wish trip you receive a special pass that allows you to go to the front of the lines for rides and character meetings. You gain special access to a wish lounge so you can rest during the day. You stay at a resort for wish kids that provides handicap accessible cottages, on-site nurses, endless amounts of food and entertainment, and special visits from Disney Characters and Sea world animals. This list goes on and on. I hope for the sake of his child that he changes his mind and allows his daughter this well deserved once in a lifetime experience.

  • Paul Allvin - 12 years ago

    My name is Paul Allvin and I am vice president of brand advancement for Make-A-Wish America. I do want to clarify that we have granted wishes to all kids with life-threatening illnesses almost since our inception. Not since a few years into our creation (founded in 1980) have we limited wish-granting just to terminally ill kids. And here's why: when kids are referred to us, doctors verify whether they have a life-threatening condition (which essentially means that without treatment from a progressive, malignant and degenerative condition, their lives are in jeopardy). From that point forward, if we promise them a wish, we give them a wish.

    We're about giving them an experience -- and the anticipation of an experience -- that helps them to feel better, and when possible gives them the boost to get better. We're going to give them that experience once referred. We're not going to pull back that promise if their health gets better. That would have the effect of penalizing kids for getting better.

    With respect to the child in Ohio, we have learned through three decades of wish-granting that it is in everyone's best interests to obtain the signatures of both parents whenever possible in order to proceed with a wish. We stand ready to grand McKenna’s wish, and we hope her parents can resolve their differences so her wish can move forward.

    Thanks to CNN for surfacing this topic, and (thank you, John Kavanagh!) for taking my call at a late hour to update this blog entry. And thanks for everyone's thoughtful responses.

  • Chris Zafiridis - 12 years ago

    Your question does not reflect what you were asking in the article. I voted yes, but the girl who beat cancer should go on make a wish foundations dime, and I don't think I have to explain why.

  • Julie - 12 years ago

    I agree with you "Deceptive". The wording of this poll makes it useless. I bet lots of people picked the wrong answer based on the way it was worded. Pointless.

  • Tiffany - 12 years ago

    I feel as if any child who goes through such an ordeal as this one deserves something in their life to celebrate life. I watched my father go through Chemo and Radiation therapy when he was diagnosed with Cancer. The hardest part was watching him not being able to eat, getting skinnier by the day and clumps of hair falling out. He lost a total of 30 pounds in a month and half from it and within two weeks of chemo lost most of his hair. To know this child had to go through so much and to understand the hardships my father went through, it is harder for a child then it is a grown adult. I saw children in the hospital during this time who were told they would have to go through this and it broke my heart. NO CHILD SHOULD HAVE TO ENDURE THIS. The Make A Wish Foundation is all about giving a child a happy moment through their ordeal. The father is completely wrong, his child could become sick again and it always comes back worse then the first time around. She is 4 and has had to deal with so much since she was two. It breaks my heart to see the behavior her father is displaying. This is a happy moment for this child to experience something other then a needle. The motives behind this father's spite is laid out there. I feel for this family. The mother, grandmother, grandfather and siblings deserve this chance to go with her since they are also the ones who have been by her side and her support system through it all. They are the ones who have also been through struggles with helping to keep her chin up. Have those who disagree ever seen a cancer patient after they get Chemo and Radiation? They are sick, throwing up and gray looking. This little girl deserves every chance to get this type of happiness in her life after losing half of it to Leukemia and living in hospitals.

  • lga - 12 years ago

    My daughter has a genetic condition that prevented her from having a normal childhood. She was confined to a bed and wheelchair for over 5 years. She was denied by Make a Wish because it wasn't a terminal illness. There are other organizations that do the same thing for those kids that have life long illnesses. (Children's Wish)

  • Dad of former cancer patient - 12 years ago

    My daughter is 13 and survived Neuroblastoma when she was 6. In the middle of her treatments, she got her Make-a-Wish trip to Disney World. She still talks about this trip. I agree that you don't have to be terminal to get the trip and I agree with the mother earlier that said that she earned the trip. My daughter went through 5 rounds of chemo, surgery to remove her tumor, 2 stem-cell transplants, radiation, and 6 months of drug therapy. I think she earned the right to go and so do others who deal with cancer. I thank God for groups such as Make-a-Wish, who work to help kids and families in difficult times in their lives.

  • Deceptive - 12 years ago

    This poll is kind of deceptive. The article title is "Should the kid get to go" and so I clicked Yes, then I realized the stupid poll actually asked "should she not get to go". I voted against what I thought. This girl has LEUKEMIA at the age of freaking four. She's been through all kinds of crap. She might well die still. If the FOUNDATION itself says she's good to go, then she's good to go.

  • Danielle - 12 years ago

    This is ridiculous. This foundation isn't for only those who are sure to die. It doesn't matter whether or not she was terminally ill. It would be a dumb idea to offer make a wish to those only terminally ill, because many of them may never get their wish fulfilled if they are too sick. The foundation provides hope for children that are suffering. Being sick as a child is painful and scary. What is so bad about a foundation offering the child a trip or a little hope? For the poster before - your personal jealousy is unwarranted and wrong - your kids (who were healthy) didn't get special wishes, but they didn't spend months in the hospital feeling sick all the time. This girl kept her spirit and survived cancer as a young child. How can you determine whether or not a child deserves his/her wish or not?

    Inconsistency and trust are also issues at play - people should try harder to honor their word. The father seemingly agreed to it at first, with no regard to her outcome. Why would he change his mind now because she lived? If you make a promise to a child whether to award good behavior (or survival) or punish bad behavior you should honor it. Say and do what you mean.

    This is so sad.

  • MJC - 12 years ago

    It is unclear whether McKenna was ever declared to be terminally ill. If she was not, it is sad that she was promised this trip, and those who suggested and supported the idea that she apply to the Make-A-Wish foundation are abusing this foundation. Note the cost, $3,500, is not only for McKenna and a guardian, but also her sibling and grandparents.

    It is truly wonderful that McKenna is well again and she should have a celebratory event not only to celebrate her health, but also her journey the past two years. However, this event should be supported by family and friends.

  • Mom of Cancer Patient - 12 years ago

    My daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 4 and had to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. She was awarded a Make-a-Wish trip. She earned every minute of it. All of the pain, sickness, being taken away from family, school, and life itself, was so hard on her. And, it doesnt stop with the end of her hospitalization. She will have lifelong side effects such as fertility issues, growth problems, hearing problems,thyroid problems, and a lower IQ. I am so thankful that she is cancer free after 10 years. She is my "little ray of sunshine". So, I would love to give a piece of my mind to ANYONE that thinks my daughter should not have received her Make-a-Wish trip.

  • rvls - 12 years ago

    They shoudn't have promised her the trip, if her getting better caused them to scrap it. She DID have leukemia, why punish her because she isn't dying now. Don't promise a child a dream, then take it back! That is cruel.

  • TLS - 12 years ago

    I absolutely agree with the dad. I watched someone close to me get all sorts of special trips and experiences because he was a sick child, but not terminally ill. Never once did the drs say anything abt him potentially not making it. My kid didnt get to on hunting trips, and theme parks and all that sorts of stuff. Yes it sucks when a child is sick, but I think waaaay to many people abuse these charities and something gets lost when ill children, and I am not talking terminaly ill, are getting all this special treatment and there are MANY kids out there healthy, but with parents that cant afford trips and such.

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