Make A Wish!

During a (Hammon) Family Reunion this summer, we enjoyed a tour of the Make A Wish Foundation in Salt Lake (You should go!). I, like so many others, assumed that wishes are for children with terminal illnesses; Otherwise normal kids who have a disease that will shorten their life. The woman giving us the tour was adamant that they don't use the word "terminal" anymore to describe their Wishers. Instead, they say they have "life threatening medical conditions." Many of the kids they grant wishes for get better in the long run. She also said that some of them later get jobs at Make A Wish and make a difference helping other kids.

I have very, very, VERY mixed feelings about granting a wish for Becca. No matter which way you look at it, it makes me feel like I have to admit that Becca will die early. She doesn't have a 'treatable' condition really. I know that the things that CMV has done to her body will never let her be completely healthy or whole. Her medical conditions certainly threaten her life if I don't stay completely on top of them and do everything I can and everything doctors recommend and even those things I feel inspired to do for her. BUT having someone gather and spend money on her because of this fact is impossible for me to get my head around.

There is also the issue of her not being able to communicate. How do I know what her truest wish would be? I like to think she is happy and content with how we do things. She rarely complains anyway. :) Anything that we did for her would be what WE want for her and not necessarily what SHE would want for her. This wouldn't seem like such a big deal if I didn't walk slowly around and read all the pictures on the walls of wishes kids made that meant so much to them. They had heart's desires that were fulfilled. I'm fairly certain most of Becca's heart's desires are to sit quietly with her family and 'hang out.' :) Besides, I'd probably want something boring like a ramp on the house or someone to invent a fuel efficient wheelchair adapted van. Wishes are supposed to be to meet someone famous or to be a superhero for the day or to go somewhere amazing. And, depending on the day, NONE of those things would get a reaction out of Becca.

At one point in the tour, they took us out to a cute little fountain with statues of children in it and gave us each a token with which to make our own wish and throw into the fountain if we wanted. I still have my token. I couldn't bring myself to make a wish.