I Wish
I want to tell you a story. In February of 1979, a 7-year-old named Chris Grecius, of Scottsdale, Arizona, found out he had leukemia.
It was the end of the world. No, it was worse than that. It felt like the end of a family. Chris’s mother was devastated.
In the late 1970s, there weren’t many kids coming back from the L-word. Chris was informed that he was dying. It was a living nightmare.
One fateful day, Chris casually remarked to his mother that he wished he could have grown up to become a policeman. For a parent, the news was a knife to the gut.
Chris’s wish was common knowledge, of course. Anyone who knew little Chris, knew that he liked to dress up as a cop and run around the backyard, chasing bad guys, occasionally shouting, “FREEZE!” to neighborhood dogs and various woodland creatures.
But something about this was different. Chris was making an official request.
News of Chris’s interest in the police department spread. In those days, Scottsdale was, essentially, a big small town, so word got around pretty quickly.
When Chris was hospitalized, a family friend spoke with Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer Ron Cox, and the department launched a plan to make Chris’s wish come true.
Lt. Col. Dick Schaefer of the DPS got involved. He gave Chris a campaign hat, like state troopers wear. He polished one of his old badges and pinned it to Chris’s chest. Then, he officially swore Chris in as Arizona's first and only honorary 7-year-old peace officer.
The police department didn’t stop there. Someone gave Chris a helicopter tour of Phoenix. Chris got to drive a police car. The officers let him talk on the radio.
But the icing on the proverbial cake was when the officers commissioned an official police uniform for Chris. They delivered this uniform to Chris at the hospital that spring, and they made a big deal about it. Lots of pomp. The officers marched into the hospital as though they were attending a typical papal installation.
Chris wore the uniform in his hospital bed. He wouldn’t take it off. Two days later, Chris died.
And something happened in that ordinary Arizona city. A foundation was accidentally born by Chris’s mother. She called it “Make-A-Wish.”
The first official Make-A-Wish recipient was Frank “Bopsy” Salazar.
Frank was barely 5 years old when he was diagnosed with leukemia. He was the child of a single mom. His mother checked her son into the hospital even though they didn’t have health insurance.
One day, Chris’s mom met Frank’s mom. Words were exchanged. Tears were shed.
Frank’s mom remembers:
“She told me that instead of letting kids just feel sorry for themselves, she wanted to grant wishes, to do something every kid would benefit from, to fulfill their dream while they're still a part of this world.”
When they sat Frank down and asked his final wish, he said his wish was to be a fireman. No, wait, he wanted to go to Disneyland. No, wait. He wanted to ride in a hot air balloon. No wait…
Make-A-Wish didn’t make Frank choose a singular wish. They pulled out the stops. They did it all.
The Phoenix Fire Department arrived at Frank’s hospital, they found his hospital-room window and pulled the truck up to the curb. They extended the truck’s enormous ladder. A horde of firemen entered Frank’s room through the window, one by one.
They made Frank a member of the Engine 9 fire crew. They rode him around in the truck. Frank rang the bell, used the hose, wore the hat.
When Frank asked if this meant he was a real firefighter, the team of public servants gathered around him and just held him.
“Yes,” they said.
The Anaheim Fire Department stepped in and took Frank and his family around Southern California on a personal tour. Later, Frank got to hug Mickey Mouse. And he got his balloon ride.
Since then, Make-A-Wish has granted more than 550,000 wishes in 50 countries.
Here’s something else you might not know: Every 3 minutes in this world, a family will hear that their child has cancer. Every 6 minutes, one kid dies from pediatric cancer.
And every 38 seconds, somewhere in this vast, indifferent world, a wish is granted to a child in need by the Make-A-Wish organization.
It’s important to note here that I am not affiliated with Make-A-Wish Foundation in any way, shape, or form.
But I wish like heck that I were.