With gratitude to our many generous supporters, Little Wishes announces that it recently granted its 5,000th wish! This landmark wish was granted by our newest Little Wishes program at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Spokane, Washington, which joins our programs operating at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco and The Children's Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. And that's not the only good news….

Little Wishes recently received the 2010 American Red Cross Heroes Award for the Act of Kindness and Philanthropy. Little Wishes also appeared in a feature story in Parade Magazine last spring, prompting overwhelming interest in the program from across the country.

We are honored to receive such recognition for our ongoing mission of granting modest wishes to hospitalized children to lift their spirits and ease their pain and fear. Due to the growing interest in our programs, we are exploring the possibility of expanding to other hospitals.

As you can see in the pictures of our featured Little Wishes recipients, your support continues to help bring happiness and comfort to children like Austin.

Little Wishes helped Austin, only 2½ years old, brave his treatment for E. coli that progressed to kidney failure. He was admitted after showing signs of illness while on a family camping trip in Washington. He spent almost three months in the hospital recovering from surgery to remove part of his bowel, and he received dialysis several times a week before being able to return to his home in California.

Austin loves to play with balls and trains. Little Wishes surprised him with an assortment of Thomas the Tank Engine trains, tracks and accessories. He also received a football, which his parents say, "goes wherever he goes." According to his nurses, the wishes not only made him smile, but also helped him to get out of bed to play, and this helped speed his recovery.

 

Part of the magic of Little Wishes is providing distraction for children enduring long hospital stays. Parents of twelve year old Abby, who suffers from Chron's disease, are grateful for Little Wishes. They shared that the program helps their daughter cope with multiple hospitalizations due to complications from her disease. "Just talking about her little wish was a gift in itself taking her mind off upcoming procedures," they said.

Abby was most recently admitted for pancreatitis, and her latest wish was for pandas. A WebkinzTM panda (stuffed animal) topped her wish list. After making her wish Abby spent the next few days anticipating the arrival of her new stuffed animal. During playroom activities she built a house out of construction paper, made special jewelry, and even created a picture frame for her panda. Luckily the Little Wishes volunteer coordinator and shopper, Shari Scheller, was able to track down the exact panda she wanted. Sara Anderson, our wonderful Sacramento Little Wishes coordinator, said that Abby literally squealed with delight upon receiving her wish.

Little Wishes celebrates each child's passion. For Abby its panda bears, but for four year old Michael, who is being treated for a neuroblastoma (a form of childhood cancer), its Spiderman. While in the hospital for surgery to remove his tumor and subsequent chemotherapy treatments, Michael received a large assortment of Spiderman toys from Little Wishes. He even got to see real superheroes in action when our fantastic Spokane Little Wishes coordinator, Nettie Welshons, took him, clutching a Spiderman figurine in his hand, up to the helicopter pad on the roof of the hospital to witness the flight nurses taking off.

Hospitalized children often experience rigorous and painful treatments that can trigger lasting physical and mental side effects. It is Little Wishes' mission to help lift their spirits and improve their outlook.

Fourteen year old Hannah has lymphoma and comes to the hospital every three weeks for five days to receive high dose chemotherapy. Hannah sat in her hospital bed on the first sunny day of summer in San Francisco, sad to be stuck indoors. Nobody could cheer her up. However, when the Little Wishes team came in singing and granted her wish of the just released final season of Lost, she immediately perked up and was smiling from ear to ear. She kept the DVD on for the five days of her hospitalization, even while she slept.

 

What makes Little Wishes unique is that a qualified child can make a little wish every 14 days. This helps children like Nakayla who battles sickle cell anemia and visits the hospital every three weeks for ongoing blood exchange transfusions. She enjoys wishes of books, games and Legos®. Nakayla says the wishes "make me feel special." She shared with us that she actually looks forward to her treatment because she knows a wish will be waiting for her at the hospital. The only wish Little Wishes doesn't grant Nakayla is chocolate, because according to her nurses, it makes her super silly!

 

By granting modest wishes, Little Wishes makes a huge impact on these children, their families and even the hospital staff by giving caregivers another means of comforting a patient. We would like to share with you a recent letter from one of our former Little Wish recipients, Kenta. Kenta underwent treatment for osteosarcoma in 2006. During his fifteen month therapy he received multiple wishes, and he describes what Little Wishes meant to him:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Wishes remains a 100% volunteer organization. None of the donations received by Little Wishes are used to pay salaries. It would be impossible to run our Little Wishes programs without the coordinators who volunteer endless hours organizing, purchasing, and wrapping each and every wish! We extend a very heartfelt thank you to our coordinators Shari Scheller, Dana Ramseyer and Holli Andrews.

Please take a moment to look at our newly updated website at www.littlewishes.org. In addition to sharing stories of children like Kenta, we have updated the website to include articles written about and awards received by Little Wishes. And for the many of you who have asked, you now also have the ability to donate online! However, you can still donate by sending a check made out to Little Wishes to:

 

Little Wishes
c/o Laura Euphrat
901 Butterfield Road
San Anselmo, CA 94960

 

If you would prefer to receive our next newsletter online instead of on paper, please send an email to euphratrn@littlewishes.org and we will add you to our e-mail distribution list.

Because of your continued support, Millie, a treasured therapy dog, continues to help deliver hundreds of wishes to children's hospital beds in Sacramento.