Cody
7
blood disorder
Cody's Wish to go to a Dude Ranch
As a young boy, wish kid Cody was enthralled by the life of the great outdoors – cowboys, mountains, horses; he loved it all. His family often found him saddling up on just about anything he could get his hands on, including both the couch and even the family’s dog. Cody never could have imagined that this summer he would have the chance to travel to a secluded Dude Ranch in Wolf, Wyoming with his younger brother and parents, but thanks to Make-A-Wish he did.
However, Cody’s young life prior to the ranch proved to be as bumpy as the dirt road they rode in on. When he wasn’t escaping into the world of cowboys, Cody and his family were busy fighting his extremely rare bone marrow condition, Diamond-Blackfan anemia. Since he was diagnosed at just thirteen months, Cody has suffered through countless hospitalizations and blood transfusions in an effort to balance his hemoglobin.
“When Cody says he’s tired, you obviously wonder has he slept? Has he eaten?” explains his mother Joelle, “But in the back of your mind you find yourself asking – what’s his hemoglobin? There’s always that niggle in the back of your brain.”
When Cody was healthy enough to start thinking about his wish, his wish granting volunteers stepped in to bring hope, strength and joy into the life of a well-deserving little boy. When asked what his most heartfelt wish would be, Cody announced: to ride horses at Eaton’s Ranch with my brother.
The only issue with the ranch was that Cody’s younger brother, Asher, would have to wait until he turned six years old to be able to ride. Being the kind-hearted and sweet big brother that he is, Cody decided to wait a few months for Asher to turn six so that they could enjoy the wish together.
Just before Christmas, Cody and his family set out on the Polar Express train where they whimsically set off for the North Pole. Santa Clause himself emerged from the train, announcing Cody’s name and sharing with him that his wish to travel to Eaton’s Ranch was being granted this summer.
The next few months flew by, and before he knew it there was a limousine waiting in his front yard to take him to the airport in style. After receiving the pilot’s wings and arriving in Wyoming, Cody and his family made their way to Eaton’s Ranch where they fell in love instantly with the simplicity of the area.
A wish family in a surrounding town had heard Cody and Asher aspired to be cowboys, and decided to surprise them with something to make them feel even more at home in Wyoming. The wish dad made, and delivered, the brothers’ custom, handmade chaps that they were able to ride in for the whole week.
Cody and his family spent the week taking advantage of every aspect of Eaton’s Ranch. They rode together each day; some days even up to three times. When they weren’t riding horseback, Cody and his younger brother Asher were busy swimming, kicking balls in the field, and enjoying time with other children they met there.
One of the last days they were there happened to be Father’s Day, when the family made some of their fondest memories. To celebrate they decided to take the horses out for a dinnertime picnic. As they raced their horses through the meadows, smiling and laughing on the search for prairie dogs in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, Cody’s mother wondered how they had gotten so lucky. It was a holiday unlike any they had ever experienced, one that the whole family would forever hold close to their hearts.
“Everyone around us at the camp felt like they were a part of something bigger than themselves, and that spreads,” reflected Joelle in hindsight.