A New Heart, and a Wish Come True
For 13 years, McCurley Dealerships and the 3 Rivers Corvette Club have joined together to host Corvettes on the Columbia. Together, they have raised more than $1 million to help grant wishes for children with critical illnesses in our community. The 13th Annual Corvettes on the Columbia raised more than $136,000.
“Every year we ask: How many wishes can we grant?” said Matt Price with the Fleet and Commercial of McCurley Chevrolet. That one question drives their team’s commitment to raising funds to grant wishes for local children. Wishes for kids like Bree.
Bree collapsed on Sept. 4, 2020. She was playing in Howard Amon Park, where events for Corvettes on the Columbia takes place, when her heart stopped. Her mother rushed to the park and got there as paramedics were performing CPR. She jumped into the ambulance, and they were life-flighted to Seattle Children’s.
When they got to the hospital, what felt like hundreds of medical providers poured into the room. Bree’s heart was failing, and she needed a transplant. As they were holding onto hope for their daughter, joy came twofold. They were told she qualified for a wish, then came a heart.
On Sept. 27, she underwent a heart transplant.
“Bree went into her heart transplant surgery, and I had to be ok with the fact that if she couldn’t fight anymore that it would be ok,” said Rachelle. “She fought for 7 years with restrictive cardiomyopathy. Then miracles just continued to happen.”
Her recovery was incredible, and on Nov. 4, exactly two months after she collapsed in the park, she went home.
Bree started therapy as soon as she got home, and her family started thinking about her wish.
When they first met Barbi, their wish-granting volunteer, they felt so special. She brought them gifts and talked to them about all the things Bree could potentially wish for, including Disneyland®. It wasn’t long before they decided on their wish – a trip of a lifetime.
In 2021, they started to plan the perfect trip, and in 2022, they set out for their wish to Bree’s favorite amusement park where she could enjoy all her favorite characters and rides.
“’This could be it, is what I thought going into transplant,’” said Bree’s mom, Rachelle. “Today, you look at her and you would never know what she’s been through. For us, a wish is memories for a lifetime. It was a huge gift that Make-A-Wish gave us. We could never have given her a trip like that. We couldn’t have made it better. I don’t have the words to express how awesome it was. A million times thank you!”
Bree doesn’t remember being in the hospital, but she remembers her wish trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios. She loved Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios.
“It was a dream come true for Bree,” said her mom.
Her mother said she felt like a queen.
“We wore our Make-A-Wish buttons, and everyone made us feel like royalty,” she said. “It was like a dream that just kept getting better. We were given an incredible amount of memories in a short amount of time, and we get to keep enjoying them.”
Today, they still talk about Bree’s wish trip, and when they do, she smiles with joy.
Thank you for making wishes like Bree’s possible. Right now, 37 wish kids in the Tri-Cities are waiting for their wishes to come true.
Special thanks to the 3 Rivers Corvette Club, McCurley Dealerships and Fiesta Mexican Restaurant and Catering.