Rebecca's Make-A-Wish Research Papers

Because of you, St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Discover how your contributions make this possible.We won’t stop until no child dies from cancer. Our founder believed that "no child should die in the dawn of life," and we’ve spent more than half a century focusing on our mission: Finding cures. Saving children.Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago. Help us go even further in conquering

One extraordinary miracle was performed in Texas, in 2011 to a very lucky nine year old girl, Annabel Beam. For several years, little Annabel suffered from a rare, incurable, and life-threatening digestive disorder. She'd been in and out of the hospital numerous times, poked and prodded by many doctors, and had invasive tests run. She was on a regimen of several different drugs that still just barely kept her symptoms controlled, and even then, she experienced frequent flare-ups. Just before Christmas, on one of their many trips to Boston to see a renowned specialist, Annabel once again found herself admitted to the hospital. While there, her mother Christy could tell that she wasn't her usual self. Annabel had always held up well in her battle

Growing up with a brother that has a mental disability, I’ve become very familiar with organizations that support children with disabilities. Make-A-Wish is a well-known nonprofit organization that grants terminally ill children their dream wish. If I could choose any person to room with it would be Tommy Austin. Tommy Austin is the co-founder of Make-A-Wish and a retired U.S. Customs agent. In the spring of 1980, Austin met a child named Chris Greicius who was dying of leukemia. Chris dreamed of becoming a police officer when he grew up. Austin was determined to not only grant this wish for Chris, but to also give him something to look forward to in life besides doctor visits. With the help of other officers, Austin was able to make Chris an honorary officer just days before he breathed his last breath. This story inspired many people to grant wishes for more children like Chris, thus creating the Make-A-Wish foundation.

HOPE for Miami is an agency directed to the most vulnerable sectors of society, children, adolescents and young people with special needs as well as guides to parents through courses and free training. It was an honor to work with HOPE For Miami with a family atmosphere and collaboration with other programs.

She could not walk, talk, or move freely and was confined to a wheelchair. In spite of her challenges, Amy always had a smile on her face which generated from her genuine heart of unconditional love for everyone around her. Even though Amy could not communicate with ease, she used every ounce of energy to utter the words “I love you, Gabe.” She did everything with a positive attitude and was willing to engage in the all of the activities at camp such as drama, art, dance and even basketball. Not once did she ever display frustration, and what an impact this had on me. The optimistic way the campers view everything in life is a blessing to observe, and a model by which I strive to live my

from a life threatening medical issues. Firstly, it allows people to refer a child and

In the summer of 2010, Little Red Scarf staffs and volunteers held the first “Little Red Scarf Camp” to provide beneficiaries with a chance to learn about awareness and most importantly, help them build self-confidence. Children took classes, played games, and climbed a mountain – something they would never have been able to do before. Now these children not only have a healthy heart, but also the potential for joy in life. The camp is held once a year as we accompany the children’s

Every year Mater Little Miracles (MLM) helps provide premature or seriously ill babies with a second chance. Donating can help these young children to grow and have a good life. hmm… Let’s say you end up having a child at one point and the child was born premature or with a birth defect. All the doctors say that your child wouldn’t live for more than two weeks. However, what if the Mater Little Miracle foundation helped save your child? Picture you child five years later, when you see your child on their first day of school and you remember that at the beginning they weren’t meant to survive… How grateful would you be? MLM work in so many different ways, let me tell

Wish Granting is at the heart of how MAW GLA serves its community of children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Time then, is a valuable resource to furthering the organization’s mission. The reach of the organization to all eligible participants is also critical in the objective to enrich the lives of as many individuals as possible in the chapter’s target population. Understanding the importance of these elements, the consultant team would like to propose a performance monitoring and process evaluation in order to make a good faith assessment of MAW GLA’s implied and deliberate strategies and practices regarding the Wish Granting process.

First, it is important to assess Diane’s overall unmet needs. In understanding one’s unmet needs, we are able to assist Diane in engaging in her own interactions and activities in her daily life (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2013, p. 8). Research has shown that children and young adults with cerebral palsy are at risk for having a high amount of unmet needs, especially in relation to health care (Jackson, Krishnaswami, & McPheeters, 2011; Nieuwenhuijse et al., 2007). As health care professionals, we need to be aware of Diane’s unmet needs in order to identify her own personal goals and skills in order to plan an accurate model of intervention.

I couldn’t imagine what it would be like growing up with a life threating condition that has no cure. Amanda Estep is a 21-year-old, college student and also a close friend of mine who has been battling Cystic Fibrosis since she was three years old. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic condition that causes mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system, making it hard to breath. “Basically everything in my body is thicker, so the mucus in my lungs is harder to break up and get out which causes frequent lung infections.” Amanda explained to me. Cystic Fibrosis also impacts her ability to digest food, resulting in her being underweight most of her life. While I have known Amanda since kindergarten, we have never talked in depth about how much she has to do to remain as healthy as possible. Hearing her explain her story made me realize how lucky I am to be healthy, and that’s something’s no one should take for granted. There is currently no cure for Cystic Fibrosis, but Amanda shared some of the many things she has to do in order to remain as healthy as possible. Some of those things includes being hospitalized for two weeks four or five times a year, taking many medications, and knowing how hard she can push herself.

The importance of the Make a Wish Foundation is that It grants wishes for kids from 3 -17 years old in order to help them feel good for the last years of their life. It's for kids who have a life threatening disease and don't have that much time left alive. This foundation is to give a chance to these kids to go explore whatever they want. What happens is that each kid has one wish to go do anything or go do something they want to do.There are four steps to granting a wish. Each step builds on the next to create amazing experiences that delight wish kids and their families. A wish experience is frequently a source of inspiration for children undergoing difficult medical treatments. It is important to have a Make A Wish Foundation around the world to help these kids explore so they can feel happy about themselves. Make a wish allows kids to grant one wish and it can be whatever they want.

I was inspired by the parent stories. Things can go terribly wrong once a child is diagnosed but some families weathered the storm and managed to keep their families together. The parents speak about the financial hardships of providing the necessary support to their child and caring for a household. When a child is diagnosed it impacts the entire family and communities, in these cases they impacted legislation as well changing how who public school served.

While I was shadowing a physical therapist over the summer, I helped with hippotherapy, horseback riding as a means of therapeutic treatment, and met a young girl with Rett syndrome named McKenna. She can’t speak, walk, use her hands, or understand much, but she has the best smile and laugh that I have ever heard. As I helped McKenna ride her horse, Dixie, every week, I began to see her balance and coordination improve. While at her first few sessions her parents had to carry her over to the horse, by the end of the fourth week she would run over the best she could while holding her mom’s hand. My experience made me realize how much a little help can make a huge difference in a child’s life, not limited to physical changes, but emotional as well.

My interest is giving to the less fortunate and helping kid with health issues because I feel like homeless people and kid with health issues get treated differently. For example people who are less fortunate get treated like animals because they don’t have a house and they don't have anywhere to shower. Also people who don’t talk to them and I feel like they are ignored. Also I feel like kids with health issues also don't get to have fun since they are always in the hospital. Kids with health issues also don’t have any friend to come and play with them since they don’t go to school often since they are at the hospital.