These surgeries are overall beneficial.  However, undergoing surgery is always frightening, especially when you're a child. He will also have to spend his entire summer vacation at home, separated from his friends and the outside world.  

Aven didn't want to be alone during this difficult time and asked Make-A-Wish® Idaho for a golden retriever puppy to keep him company during his long convalescence. At the beginning of the summer, a volunteer in a blue Make-A-Wish T-shirt arrived at his door with a puppy under her arm. 

"It's Hope!" Aven exclaimed. (He had been able to select the puppy and her name online beforehand.) He held young Hope for the first time. Hope, by all accounts a laidback and relaxed puppy, nestled contently into Aven's arms.  Aven hopes his difficult medical journey inspires others. 

"I have learned that [Aven} is so smart, strong, and caring. He has a purpose in life to use his experiences; he wants others that have to go through what he is going through to know that they will be okay. He has been there, and they are not alone," said wish mom, Lisa.