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The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma makes dreams come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Sicily Zeka is a 4-year-old who likes swimming, riding her bike and wheeling around on her scooter.
“She’d live outside if we let her,” says her mother, Kerry Zeka.
Sicily has another reason to love the outdoors. She has a new play set in her back yard with high-flying swings, a big yellow slide and two cozy clubhouses, where she and her older sister “share secrets,” her mother says, and communicate with walkie-talkies.
It seems like a normal life for a little girl, but Sicily’s life is anything but normal. She was diagnosed with a bilateral Wilms tumor in August 2008. Her disease is rare, and it left her without a right kidney and only two-thirds of a left kidney. Although Sicily is cancer-free today, her mother says she has a strong chance of a relapse.
“We take it day by day,” Kerry says. “But she doesn’t slow down. She has done remarkably.”
One spot of happiness throughout Sicily’s illness has been the gift of her new outdoor play set, all thanks to Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma, an organization that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Sicily received the enormous gift right before her 4th birthday in April. Kerry says Sicily watched the men build the play set all day.
“She wanted to be the first one to go down the slide,” Kerry says.
And she was.
Sicily is just one of more than 120 wishes granted so far this fiscal year by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma. With an office based in Oklahoma City and one in Tulsa, Make-A-Wish has granted more than 1,600 wishes since the Oklahoma chapter began operation in 1987.
Jane Rohweder knows the power of a wish come true. Not only is she the director of marketing and public relations for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma, but she also is the mother to a daughter who is a two-time cancer survivor and a “wish kid.” Her daughter, Anna, was granted her wish in 2003 to go on a Disney cruise.
“Being introduced to this foundation is an incredible experience as a mom,” says Rohweder, who has worked with Make-A-Wish for more than five years. “The wish for a child is a whole process, and the anticipation is almost as powerful as the wish itself.”
She says children don’t cross off days, weeks or months from their calendar in anticipation of a granted wish; rather, they cross off chemotherapy treatments.
“Good things come from (a wish),” she says. “It did for my family.”
Kevin Doyle, chairman of the statewide Make-A-Wish board of directors, says the organization accepts every child with a wish. Wish kids can refer themselves, or their parents, legal guardian or the medical professional treating the child can refer him or her to the foundation. Eligible children must be between the ages of 2 1/2 and 18 and be diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions.
Doyle says 46 percent of wishes are trips to Walt Disney World, which is an adventure that involves the wish kid’s entire family.
“We send the family,” he says. “ … It’s not a wish experience without the family.”
Wish coordinators plan every detail of the trip, from transportation to and from the airport to providing luggage so the family can pack. Souvenir money is even given to the wish kid, an important necessity when visiting a place like the Magic Kingdom for seven days.
“One thing we’re very careful about is not putting any more stress on the families,” Rohweder says. “We take care of every detail. All families literally have to do is pack their bags.”
Wish kids ask for two wishes, and Make-A-Wish grants one of those wishes. For example, a wish kid in Collinsville asked for a clubhouse inside a school bus. Wish granted. Make-A-Wish gave the 13-year-old boy his very own school bus decked out with a TV, arcade games, kid-friendly furniture and more.
“The look on his face was unbelievable,” Rohweder says.
Another child in Shawnee wished to be the owner of his own elephant. Again, wish granted. The 7-year-old boy became the honorary owner of an elephant named Obert for a day.
“When we do wish interviews, we encourage the kids not to be limited,” Rohweder says. “We want kids to think big and wish big.”
The kids’ wishes are never turned down for lack of funding for a wish, although the foundation’s need for funding is endless.
“We are granting wishes in tough economic times,” Doyle says. “Wishes don’t stop.”
Although he acknowledges that Oklahoma’s chapter is doing better financially than others, a majority of the foundation’s funding is event driven and relies heavily on private donations, corporate giving, grants and its Kids for Wish Kids program, through which school-aged kids learn how to run a Make-A-Wish fund-raiser and about giving back. The organization receives no government funding.
“All money raised in Oklahoma stays for our kids in Oklahoma,” Doyle says. “If the donor wants the money to stay in a certain city or county, it stays there.”
Since Doyle joined Make-A-Wish in 2002, the foundation has focused on attracting more referrals, while growing to a $2.2 million budget per fiscal year.
“The reason our budget is larger now than it was in 2002 is due to a good board of directors, the volunteers and a very talented and dedicated staff,” he says. “It’s not an 8-to-5 job.”
Last year, more than 119 wishes were granted; this year, Make-A-Wish hopes to grant up to 150 by the end of the fiscal year this August. This will allow more kids like Sicily to gain strength and experience, hope and joy through their wish coming true.
“She lives a normal life on her play equipment,” Kerry says. “Normal is lacking in her life these days.”
Rohweder agrees. She says part of what a wish does for a child is “give them hope and the parents hope that there will be something joyful and normal. ... It brings a gift of normalcy.”
To help Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma, visit www.oklahoma.wish.org or call Jane Rohweder at 492-WISH (9474).
