Make Wishes Come True for Kids in OR & SW WA

Make-A-Wish Oregon Board of Director's member, Patrick DeMartino, M.D., M.P.H. cares for local kids with cancers, blood disorders, and those in need of a bone marrow transplant. He often meets our community's wish kids in times of great distress and uncertainty. The burden of the pandemic and isolation has only added to the weight of their anxieties.

Make-A-Wish allows Dr. Pat to prescribe the hope they need to cut through those fears. Telling a kid they qualify for a wish is the most unexpected, outrageously generous thing for a doctor to share out of the blue. The medical teams are just the messengers though. It is generous people like you who make this extreme joy possible.

Wishes help kids overcome traumatic stress, hopelessness, depression, and loneliness. Dr. Pat has seen many kids post-transplant or post-cancer therapy with severe muscle loss. They've been through so much that some struggle to find the motivation to complete physical therapy. However, thinking about a wish to go snorkeling in Hawai'i or walk around Disneyland empowers them to take charge of their health. They want to be strong enough to swim and have fun on their trip. A wish serves as a coping mechanism and a turning point during treatment.

Meet Uriah. A gregarious and perky 6-year-old patient of Dr. Pat's. Uriah was admitted on Christmas Eve. Dr. Pat diagnosed him with high-risk neuroblastoma, which requires some of the most intensive treatment we give. To say this was difficult news is an understatement. Especially because Uriah is an inspiring musician and this treatment is toxic to the inner ear. In the months following, Uriah did not get to choose much of what was happening to him medically. All of it was scary and out of his control. However, the mere mention of Make-A-Wish flipped the switch. Suddenly, Uriah had autonomy, and his hospital room was swirling with creativity and personality. He dreamed of having his own space where he could play his electric guitars and drum set at all hours of the day, and he’d call it his House of Rock.

Because of donors like you, Uriah's dream became a reality. Right now, there are more than 330 local kids like Uriah who are waiting for that wildly special thing that shows them that anything is possible. When you donate, you bring a child's imagination to life. 

When you donate to Make-A-Wish you are doing something exceptional. You are giving a child an extraordinarily positive experience at a time when they are experiencing the extreme negative. A donation of any amount will help uplift the lives of kids in your community. Thank you!

Links:

• Music Video by Uriah