“As I look back on the experience with Make-A-Wish I can say that it was an incredible experience for us as a family. Aubriel has received other smaller gifts all along the way to her Wish day which has amazed me. So many people have put forth effort and expense for a child they don't even know, to bring her joy. Everyone we have dealt with has been so kind. Her Wish falling during the Covid pandemic didn't help but everything still went forward.
Aubriel's Wish Day started with the arrival of two kind gentlemen, Michael Kakouris and Frank Bowling, who had taken their time away from projects they were overseeing to build Aubriel's swing. Even though it showered off and on they kept working and then said they would be back. When the men returned, they had purchased large rubber mats to lay a walkway for Aubriel's wheelchair to roll along to the swing. (It has made pushing her chair through the grass so much easier and kept it much cleaner.) We were touched by their generosity.
As the time drew closer, we dressed Aubriel special and put a jacket on her to go out. It was then she seemed to really sense something was happening out of the ordinary. When Shelby (wish coordinator) arrived, she gave us t-shirts, buttons, and a balloon bouquet for Aubriel, as well as a pretty gift bag.
We wheeled Aubriel out onto the back deck and opened the gift. Inside was a bubble machine. Somehow as bubbles floated out for Aubriel it seemed to make the day even more special! We wheeled her down the ramp, along her new walkway, and onto the swing that had been festooned with the balloons. We fastened her chair down and at some point, she grasped the chain going across in front of her, like a rider on a roller-coaster. As we began to push, she smiled, cooed, began laughing, and pointed her toes in pure delight. She was ecstatic! Needless to say, so were we.
To see our little girl experience such pure joy, with her family, friends, Make-A-Wish volunteers, Shelby, and even a newspaper representative all delighting in our little girl's joy, was such a beautiful experience. (She was even featured on the front page of the newspaper a few days later. Who would have thought our baby girl would ever make it into the paper?! Somehow it gave her another experience that many children enjoy for their accomplishments like sports or scholastic endeavors. But this time Aubriel's joy and Make-A-Wish made the front page!)
The day had been cool, rainy, and cloudy but as Aubriel "soared" in her new swing in her own back yard the sun came out and the day was perfect for our little girl! Thank you so much, Make-A-Wish! Aubriel continues to enjoy swinging in her back yard and the kindness and generosity of everyone involved is a treasure we will never forget.
Please give our thanks to everyone that helped to make her wish come true.”
Sincerely and with deep gratitude,
David and Gay Knapp
