Florence's Wish
But on her wish day, the hospital seemed worlds away.
Aggressive intervention was necessary to save Florence’s life, but the next steps were excruciating. Brain surgery one week after her brain tumor diagnosis was followed by multiple rounds of chemotherapy.
“Hospital life was a little over a year, and it was a lot of sacrifice on both me and my wife, Eugenia, and especially Florence. She lost her twos and threes due to cancer,” wish dad Rich shared.
Florence was referred by her medical team. Pediatric Oncologist Dr. Vivian Chang says, “The difference in a child’s medical treatment can’t be understated … I think having those wish experiences where they can just be a kid for the day really does a lot … to boost their morale, give them something to look forward to, and memories for them to look back on when their treatments are really tough.”
Finally, a grueling stem cell treatment signaled a turning point for Florence and her family. Florence began to reintegrate back into the community, where she fell in love with farm-themed pretend play.
Once she was healthy enough, Florence was granted a wish: to have a farm-themed play yard at her school!
As part of her wish, Florence got to create a special farm playset with wooden egg drops that slide through barrels, a picture of Goodnight Moon drawn by her friend’s dad, play veggies and fruits, an old cash register, and her favorite animals — horses!
Imagine the joy of a wish that transformed not only Florence’s daily life, but that of so many other kids who got to enjoy a reimagined, vibrant new schoolyard.
And now you can do the same for another wish kid like her who is still waiting.
Your support makes life-changing wishes like these possible. Wishes like Florence’s give children fighting critical illnesses the strength and joy to keep fighting and even overcome their medical challenges. For children like Florence, wishes are more than a nice thing to have. They can change absolutely everything.