In 2005, when a then-15-year-old Sarah learned that she would be granted a wish, she knew immediately what she wanted. Sarah was—and still is—a diehard fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, and her wish was to have a Cardinals experience with her whole family.   

“My dad is from St. Louis, and we grew up as Cardinals fans even though we live in California,” says Sarah, who is now 34 and a resident of San Jose. “Make-A-Wish flew us to St. Louis, and we went to a Cardinals game. I got to meet players and coaches, go into the dugout and broadcasting booth, and get autographs. They even said my name on TV! But what made it really special was that my whole family got to experience it together.”  

It was a dream come true for Sarah, who one year earlier had been diagnosed with Wegener's granulomatosis, a rare and incurable autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of blood vessels and can lead to serious complications. She was a freshman in high school at the time and recalls having “all these weird symptoms, like suddenly losing my breath, and getting rashes on my feet and nodules on my knuckles. It turned out that my blood vessels had become porous and were bleeding into my lungs, and my heart was working on overdrive.”   

Luckily, her doctors were able to diagnose her condition and treat it with a series of blood transfusions followed by small doses of chemotherapy and steroids. But the challenges of managing her disease and the side effects of her treatments were highly stressful for Sarah as a teenager. The steroids caused “a ton of weight gain,” she says, “and I just blew up.” As an athlete—she was a volleyball player—Sarah had to quit playing sports and, as she puts it, “I just stopped looking in the mirror, because it was that bad.”      

Her physician knew how Make-A-Wish could make a difference in the lives of young people with critical illnesses and referred Sarah to our chapter. Now, 20 years later, Sarah reflects on just how significant the wish was, and how much happiness it brought her at a crucial time.   

“I kind of shot for the stars,” she says of her wish. “And then when I got it, it brought so much joy to me and my family. I could see how worried my parents were when I was sick, and for this one weekend I got to see everyone smiling and happy.” And the memories still warm their hearts: When Sarah got married three years ago, her aunt even included fond recollections of the wish in her wedding toast. 

Fortunately, Sarah has not experienced recent flare-ups of her disease, which she says is dormant now. Today, she is the mom of a young daughter and has a full-time job as a project engineer in the construction industry. But the life-changing impact of receiving a wish has stuck with her. Over the years, she has been giving back to Make-A-Wish in many ways, from hosting a fundraiser at her high school to participating in Walks for Wishes beginning when she was a college student at the University of San Diego. About five years ago, she decided she wanted to do even more, and she joined Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area as a volunteer wish granter.   

“When you are going through a critical illness, it is the roughest, worst time in your life,” she says. “It is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and a wish gives you that light. It gives you hope that you are going to get better. That’s why I try every way to give back to Make-A-Wish in every way I can. Because a wish is not just a one-day thing. It has an impact for the rest of your life.”