WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — About 300 folks were helping make children’s dreams come true sunday walking for wishes, raising money for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Eastern NC president and CEO Kristen Johnson said this year was better than ever.
The organization grants wishes to kids ages 3-17 suffering from life threatening illnesses. Johnson says each wish costs about $7,500 and it does so much more than make a child happy for a day.
“There are studies that prove from the time a child finds out that they’re going to be granted their wish till they’re granted their wish, their medical prognosis is better,” Johnson said. “Their medicines work better, their treatments work better. They have a lifted spirit and because of that it helps them heal.”
The 5K walk raised about $30,000 that will go toward granting wishes for kids in eastern North Carolina.
The organization is funded solely through individual and corporate donations…
Donations that parents like Amber Townsend are so thankful for.
“Never in a million years would I be able to grant one wish for the three of my kids,” Townsend said.
All three of her daughters suffer from a genetic condition that causes chronic pancreatitus.
The oldest daughter 11-year-old Jazzmine Olinger was diagnosed after years of testing and appointments.Then the younger two started showing the same symptoms. The girls’ GI specialist, Dr. Katherine Freeman submitted their names to the Make-A-Wish foundation. It wasn’t long before she got the call her daughters would be getting wishes granted.
“I just broke down in tears,” Townsend said. “I felt like I had won the lottery.”
Jazzmin wished to be a mermaid and swim with dolphins. The Make-A-Wish foundation sent her to the florida keys to meet some dolphins, but not before sending a custom made mermaid tail.
She remembers getting her package in the mail.
“I opened it and I was like, oh my God!” There was a mermaid tail in there and one for my American Girl doll and it had a top and everything. It was awesome.”
Middle daughter Solara Olinger will get her wish to go on the Nickelodeon cruise next spring. The youngest, Brie Lowery got recently got her wish granted to meet her favorite Disney character
“It changes your attitude about life, it changes everything,” Townsend said.
Another wish parent, James Hermann says the Make-A-Wish foundation changed everything for his family after the organization granted his son 11-year-old Jacob Hermann with his wish to go to Disney World. He got his wish trip right after he finished the most intense phase of treatment in October 2012
“Our whole life at that point had just been turned upside down and centered so much on cancer that this was kind of like a reset for us,” James Hermann said.
Jacob said it made him and his family feel like they were a regular family.
“It made me feel like I didn’t have cancer anymore,” Jacob said.
About 400 kids in the 49 counties covered by the Eastern NC division of Make-A-Wish are diagnosed with a life threatening illness every year.