Make-A-Wish seeks volunteers
Make-A-Wish Wisconsin is in need of volunteer "wish granters" for the Green County area, according to Sharon Gust, a wish granter from Mount Horeb.
Three Green County children, mostly in Monroe, have been chosen recently by Make-A-Wish, she said. But the drives to and from Monroe are long and late when Make-A-Wish volunteers live so far away and have full-time jobs, Gust added. One wish granter was two and a half hours away.
Volunteer individuals go through classes and a background check, and need regular recertification. Volunteers are not responsible for raising the needed funds for the child's wish or making trip plans.
Information about becoming a Make-A-Wish volunteer is available at the foundation's website, wish.org, or by contacting Jennilyn Parulski at jparulski@wisconsin.wish.org. A regional office is at 1 South Pinckney St., Suite 40 in Madison; phone: 1-800-236-9474.
Local Make-A-Wish Chapters throughout the United States serve every community across the nation and its territories. Each has its own board of directors, staff and volunteers. For most wishes, it is local staff members and volunteers who meet the kids and their families, are told of the child's one true wish, and devote their energy to make each wish come true.
"I get to meet all the (Disney) characters," Haley said, "and eat with Cinderella in the castle."
Make-A-Wish Foundation Wisconsin has made all the arrangements for the family, who will stay at Give Kids The World Village, a children's paradise itself, just minutes from the famous theme park.
"I am overwhelmed how many people have come together to make this wish come true," Crystal said Thursday at Pizza Hut in Monroe, where friends and family gathered for Haley's bon voyage party.
Brett Lee of Janesville and Sharon Gust of Mount Horeb are Haley's wish granters. Volunteers with Make-A-Wish, they met with Haley and her parents this summer to learn all they could about her, even down to her favorite color and foods, and to gather details of her wish and her health.
"Most kids are taught, "don't be greedy,' Lee said. "But this time in life, we tell them, "Be greedy; don't hold back.'"
Haley has been living with cystic fibrosis, diagnosed at two weeks old, making her eligible for Make-a-Wish consideration. CF is a genetic disorder affecting mostly the lungs, which makes breathing difficult, but it also affects other internal organs.
Haley attends public school and doesn't appear to be sick, her mother pointed out.
But Haley is on a management regiment of enzymes pills at every meal and snack, antibiotics and vitamins, her dad said. She uses a nebulizer every day, and a second type of nebulizer is added to her routine, twice a day, during every other month. Haley also needs percussive therapy for a half hour twice a day, he added.
Thick mucus collects in the lungs of CF patients. Pounding on the chest thins and loosens it, so it can be expelled by coughing. Once done by hand, this treatment is now accomplished with a mechanical devise that Haley wears as a vest. She started using the vest when she was 5 years old.
Traveling with a child with medical needs is a daunting task, Crystal said.
But Give Kids the World villas are specially designed to handle all the medical help families need to bring their kids on vacations, including doctors on call and medical equipment, Lee said. It also provides its own array of recreation, food and "all the ice cream they want - all day, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m."
The Make-A-Wish Foundation Wisconsin headquarters made all the arrangements, using the information Lee and Gust gathered, "to coordinate and pull together all the logistics" and "all the medical approvals" needed for Haley to travel, he added.
"They are covered from door to door," he said, "even the trips to the airports and to the village."
The Jinkersons said they were surprised to find out Make-A-Wish had chosen Haley for a wish. They didn't know who recommended her to the foundation; they suspected one of her doctors or a friend.
But at the party Thursday, grandmother Jackie Kirichkow of Monroe, or "Nana" as Haley calls her, revealed her part in making Haley's wish come true. She had recommended Haley.
"She goes through a lot every day. She deserves it," Kirichkow said.
Great-grandma Lisa Haring, Haley's "GG," also of Monroe, agreed: Haley's medical situation should not hold her back from enjoying her life as a child.
"We think the world of her," she added.