NORTH CANTON, Ohio — Many of us know The Make-A-Wish Foundation as the organization that grants "wishes" to terminally ill children, and in recent years, to kids with lifelong critical conditions as well.
During the pandemic though, Make-A-Wish said it had to change the types of wishes it could grant due to travel restrictions.
For Joshua Detweiler, 8, of North Canton, that meant no trip to Disney World. Instead, Joshua chose a pop-up camper as his wish.
Doctors diagnosed Joshua with ulcerative colitis when he was five years old, during the summer between preschool and kindergarten. A chronic type of inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis has no cure, and according to Katelyn Detweiler, Joshua's mother, Joshua will require lifelong treatment.
Katelyn said Joshua spent two years doing infusions every four weeks at the hospital, receiving an intravenous medication, and went into remission about a year ago. He still receives infusions as part of maintenance treatment.
Having her son be in remission is "life-changing," Katelyn said.
"[When he] had active disease, he was also sick with every other infection under the sun because he was immune-suppressed at that time," Katelyn said. "So in addition to just being sick with his disease, he also had all these other things going on, too. Just chronic worry for me about his health, and when he achieved remission, his risk of cancer was significantly decreased."
She added, "It just feels like a weight lifted off our shoulders, less to worry about."
Katelyn knew a colleague whose child had been granted a wish from Make-A-Wish. That child was, like Joshua, not terminal but had a chronic disease. Katelyn referred her own son to the program, too.
"I think as a parent, the reason that that was important to me was it felt like so much of his childhood had been robbed from him and I wanted to be able to give him something to look forward to, to get through the times that were difficult," Katelyn said.
Stephanie McCormick, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, said the foundation is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. About 15 years ago, the foundation began granting wishes for children with critical illnesses, not just terminal ones.
"Children are diagnosed with certain conditions that are going to be lifelong journeys for them," McCormick said. "Once medical science caught up with certain types of childhood leukemia and cancers, then Make-A-Wish took a look at, 'Hey, we could do this for other children that will struggle with their families as a lifelong condition.'"
Children must be deemed medically eligible and go through a process with a volunteer "wish granter." Parents must fill out paperwork, and the wish granter goes out (virtually during COVID-19) to discover the child's "true heartfelt wish."
"They’re only stopped by their own creativity and their imagination," McCormick said.
McCormick of Make-A-Wish noted that even during COVID-19, the organization was still getting referrals to grant wishes to more children.
"Hope is essential for that wish, and we can't do this without money," McCormick said. "The wishes are piling up as the floodgates begin to open, and we're starting to see a little bit of a movement just this past couple of weeks for whatever reason."
The Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana chapter recently held its first virtual gala, raising $420,000 to help grant 42 more wishes.
"There's nothing more powerful than the smile of a Wish child. It's life-transformational. It transformed mine," McCormick said.
In the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana chapter, many children wish for something Disney-related, such as a trip to Disney World or Disneyland. When COVID-19 hit, the chapter stopped all travel, as well as all wishes involving large gatherings of people.
"It was devastating," McCormick said.
Parents were asked whether their child would like to pick another wish or wait.
"Initially, parents said, 'Oh, no, we'll wait,'" McCormick said. "And then as COVID has progressed and we haven't really come out from underneath this cloud that we're feeling right now, we're repurposing more and more and more wishes."
For Katelyn Detweiler's son Joshua, the process of choosing a wish was fun. She said he had about 37 wishes.
"One of them was for a chicken coop, one of them was for a horse to ride to and from school," Katelyn said.
Joshua said, "At one point, I was wishing for an elephant."
Ultimately, he settled on a trip to Disney. But when the pandemic hit, Katelyn said that with Joshua's immune suppression, they decided it wouldn't be a good idea for them to go.
Instead, Joshua, a Cub Scout, chose a pop-up camper.
"A Disney vacation would’ve been seven days of magical, wonderful fun, but the camper I feel like is lifelong fun," Katelyn said.
"They’re really cool," Joshua said. "They’re like homes that move on cars."
The camper has been a big hit. Joshua, his six-year-old brother Levi, mother Katelyn and father Tim have spent several nights sleeping in the camper in their driveway. They have already taken trips in it and have more planned, including a month-long trip to national parks out west.
"I feel like you’re really crowded in tents and you’d have to sleep on the ground," Joshua said, noting that the camper is more fun.
One of his favorite features: a zipper near the top of the camper that can be opened, through which he can see stars.
"We’re kind of learning to appreciate how many state parks there are," said Tim Detweiler, Joshua's father. "We’ve been going through and seeing how many national parks there are. And just being able to, even just in this pandemic, do things that are still out there to do."
Tim said it's been fun to see his son running around, keeping up with other kids and getting a "lot of his childhood back that seemed like it was taken away from him for a couple years."
"It’s just completely reassuring that he’s healthy and found a good treatment that has been real helpful for him," Tim said.
He added that he's happy his younger son, Levi, will get to experience these memories with Joshua.
Katelyn said it's not lost on her that a camper is "just a thing."
"But I feel like the fact that my kid got to ask for a wish and receive a wish gives them this lifelong ability to know that they can ask for things, they can ask for help," Katelyn said. "They can dream for things, and anything that they wish for can come true if they’re willing to work for it, so I feel like giving that gift is a lifelong gift that we wouldn’t have been able to provide in the same way."
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