As the mother of a child who was diagnosed with leukemia at age 11, I have personally experienced how a childhood critical illness turns an entire family’s life upside down. It’s a worst nightmare come true. And the ripple effects can be overwhelming. Mounting health care costs. Caring for siblings. The disruption of jobs and other responsibilities. And most importantly, fear of the unknown, even as we as parents hold on to hope that our child will survive.
Make-A-Wish was an integral part of my son’s treatment plan. The fact is, most kids who receive wishes go on to overcome their illnesses. And they credit their wish experience with giving them the strength they needed to fight. 98% of medical providers say a wish improves a child’s emotional and physical well-being and overall quality of life.
Since Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic’s founding in 1983, we have created more than 11,250 wishes. Each wish granted is a pivotal experience during a wish kid’s medical journey that often improves their health and quality of life, and always brings hope and joy. The wishes we grant in partnership with children, families, communities ― and the donors who make our mission possible ― are not fleeting gifts. It’s not the trip, the party or the puppy that matters most. It’s the life-changing impact felt by so many.
Every year, approximately 450 children ages 2-18 in DC, northern Virginia and Maryland are diagnosed with a progressive, degenerative or malignant medical condition that places their life in jeopardy. Every eligible child receives a wish – no child is turned away. It is our responsibility and privilege to bring them hope, strength and joy as they endure scary medical procedures, social isolation and a lack of control over everything in their lives.
For a child of a member of our nation’s active-duty military, reserves or veterans, the diagnosis and treatment is magnified by the challenges of their family’s service. Frequent relocations away from their support networks, deployments of a parent or guardian, being stationed abroad, all add stress to an already unbearable situation.
We are so grateful to the generous donors who provide financial support through Operation Dream Maker. Their gifts enable us to grant the wishes of children whose parents or guardians serve our country at the time and in the manner when the wish can have the greatest impact. Our partner companies and their employees selflessly support these deserving families throughout their wish journey, wherever they may be, for however long.
Over the course of four decades, Make-A-Wish has earned its standing as America’s most trusted nonprofit operating locally across 50 states (Morning Consult 2023). We are proud of this fact not for vanity’s sake, but for the sake of the children and families we serve and for the many donors who invest in us to make wishes come true.
Unfortunately, we will never be able to proclaim “mission accomplished.” Our work will never be done, and we will never stop granting wishes as long as there are children battling critical illnesses. The future of pediatric health care is not just another drug or surgical procedure. It’s care for the whole child — mind, body and spirt — that can improve children’s odds to beat their illnesses. That is why Make-A-Wish and Operation Dream Maker are “mission critical.”
