Patrick's Wish Gave Us Our Family Back
In their own words: from the Kinane Family after their wish August 2019. Patrick passed away July 2020.
"We have been sitting here trying to figure out how to put into words our feelings about our son, Patrick's, Make-A-Wish trip. We will do the best we can and forgive us if we do not express these emotions clearly. We are not certain that there truly are words that can express our thoughts.
Back in October 2017, Patrick had a soccer injury. Although this was not the first injury he faced, due to his goalie experience, we never expected that this injury would lead us to finding a cancer diagnosis.
Every single one of our lives was turned upside down at a moment's notice and they have not yet been turned back upright. After a lengthy leave of absence from work, after packing our bags, and after moving into the Ronald McDonald House in Manhattan, away from our home and family, we prepared to tackle this beast.
After five surgeries, four different types of 17 chemotherapy treatments, and too many emergency room visits to count, Patrick and we learned that the cancer had metastasized from his femur to his lung. After another surgery and more emergency room visits, immunotherapy began. Though this treatment was completely barbaric, it was unsuccessful in halting the spread of cancer. At the time of writing this, now we are attempting chemotherapy pills to maintain the cancer's growth.
In short, the nightmare has continued with one disappointment and fear after the next. We really aren't sure how this has become our story, but it has...
Throughout all this time, Patrick has met this life-threatening illness with dignity and humor. Over these past 22 months, Patrick has taught us more about life than we could have ever taught him in all his 17 years. He had kept up with all his academic challenges, graduated high school, and is now anticipating his freshman year at the University of New Haven, Connecticut to study Accounting and Business Analytics. He has been beyond brave, patient, inspirational, and appreciative of everyone who has tried to help him.
We didn’t think we’d be able to move forward with Patrick's wish trip to see Pearl Harbor. However, having just returned from the trip, we are at a loss of words of how to thank you all. We now understand the purpose of Make-A-Wish.
For us, it gave us back our family. For nine days, we were all happy and our Patrick was truly back. He laughed, smiled, and enjoyed every minute thoroughly.
This trip may have seemed like a vacation to others, but it was so much more. It gave us a break from cancer. It gave us all happy memories for a lifetime. It gave us back the life we were all missing.
Every detail was carefully planned out and rolled out flawlessly. Patrick was treated with respect and kindness every step of the way. People went above and beyond for our boy, and for that, we will be eternally grateful. We visited Pearl Harbor, hiked to the top of Diamond Head, enjoyed the ocean and pools, attended a luau, swam with the dolphins, and snorkeled with the sea turtles. We enjoyed meals out as a family, talking about everything other than cancer and enjoyed being a complete family again.
Thank you to each and everyone of you for making this possible. We wish you all truly knew the magnitude of that trip gifted by the generosity and hard work of all of you.
Much love always,
Carol-Ann, Mike, Patrick and Timothy Kinane
From Patrick
To Everyone,
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to go to Hawaii with my family. You can ask my parents and brother, but the smiles never left my face from the moment we pulled out of our driveway heading out to the airport. I had the time of my life, and it was all because of you. I'll always have a special place in my heart for Make-A-Wish. Thank you for making a dream of mine come true. I love you all.
Thank you. Truly thank you.
Patrick
Below is a song that Patrick and his musician buddy wrote and performed. Patrick left it as a gift for us and was delivered to us the night that he passed away. He asked the friend to have us share it with anyone who would want to hear/see the video (the song begins at the 4 minute mark).
- Carol-Ann
By Mike Golub and Patrick Kinane
Yesterday
Was a day of memory.
You watch your heart fly on past.
Sinking deep
falling fast.
We don’t know
where we’re going to be.
Where we all end up
is something else entirely.
But who can tell
who we’ve seen,
Where we’ve been,
What we’ve done.
And what we’ve dreamed.
And when your eyes
open no more
It’s hard to see
that we need closure.
Hey man!
Can you give me a ride?
I’m on your way home.
It will only take 5.
That ride home
He talked about life.
About it passing him by
in the blink of an eye.
But then he said,
It’s all ok.
I’m living my life
In my own way.
If I never see 21
I’ll drink tonight
With my family and friends
And I’ll be all right.
I’ll be all right.
“Thank you everyone for making me who I am today.
You mean the world to me and I’ll always be there for each and every one of you
Even when my time has passed
I will Always be in all of your hearts
Every step of the way”
And when he’s gone,
We’ll carry on his name
Cause we all know
It will never be the same.
We’ll just keep marching forward anyway
Because he needs closure.
And you need closure.
And we’ll see closure.
“And I have faith you WILL find closure because I truly am all right.”
-Patrick