The Strangest Requests From Make-A-Wish Kids That Actually Were Granted
The Make-A-Wish foundation and similar organizations arrange to make the dreams of children with life-threatening or terminal illnesses come true.
As a result, children have been given trips to Disney World, the chance to meet celebrities, or throw a pitch or shoot a basket at the stadium or arena of their favorite sports team.
Moving and tear inducing stories to say the least.
However, not all children's wishes are lavish and extravagant.
For some, just getting the chance to enjoy a picnic with their friends, away from hospitals, doctors and nurses, is the only thing they want more than anything int he world.
While other wishes might result in confusion before they induce tears.
But knowing it's what the children dream of these foundations waste no time in making these wishes happen.
"Make a wish employees What was the most strangest thing a make a wish kid asked for and actually received?"
Simple Wishes
"I shot an internal promotional video for Make-A-Wish once."
"I got to read through a big book of wishes they had granted."
"Some of them were so extravagant and amazing."
"Family vacations, celebrity meetings."
"And then I saw a 3 year old who wished for a banana split for breakfast."
'And that's what they gave him."
"No one was like 'ayo'."
"'Wish higher'."- josiemarcellino
To The Moon And Back
"I helped host a visit to a planetarium by a kid whose wish was to go to the moon."
"The front office folks thought I could just give her a personal tour of the planetarium and show her some nice high-resolution visuals, but I thought she deserved better than that."
"I commissioned a jeweler friend and meteorite enthusiast to make a silver crescent moon necklace, which he graciously donated to the cause, and I donated a small lunar meteorite from my own collection."
"It was a gorgeous necklace very much to the credit of my friend's artistry and generosity."
"We couldn't take her to the moon so we gave it to her instead."
"She was thrilled, but later said her real highlight of the trip was the astronaut ice cream."
"Ah, kids."- aluminum26
Always Wise To Have A Back-Up Plan
"My daughter was a Make-A-Wish kid."
'She asked to go to Australia to meet the Wiggles."
'Unfortunately, she wasn't able to travel that far, we live in the US, health wise."
"She made a second wish, to meet Captain America."
"We never told Cap that he was a back up wish after the Wiggles were a no-go."
"LOL."- Allyson244
A Gentle Nudge Never Hurt...
"When my sister was 5 and I was 8, she had cancer and had the opportunity to make a wish."
'When our mom and the Make-A-Wish person sat down with her, they told her she could wish for whatever she wanted."
"She just kept saying she wanted macaroni."
"They kept saying 'but it can be anything you want!'"
"Yet she simply wanted macaroni and cheese."
"After some strong encouragement to think bigger, and the Make-A-Wish person suggesting Disneyland, she chose to go to Disneyland."- tinbasher97
Some Wishes Come With Baggage
"I was granted a wish after beating brain cancer in 2015."
"They flew my mum and I out to the capital city of our state and we stayed in the flashiest, most expensive hotel suite with all the bells and whistles."
"We got free dinner, drinks and dessert on arrival, got to chill in the VIP lounge while we were waiting for our room."
"Our room was decorated with teddy bears and chocolates and MAW decorations."
"The next day we were chauffeured to the local mall in a limo and I went on an eleven hour shopping spree with a pre-loaded VISA card and bought every solitary thing you would imagine a 16 year old girl wanting."
"I ended up having to buy another suitcase to take everything home with me but it was the most epic 3 days of my life."
"I’ll never forget it."- lizzierose456
Detective For A Day
"A friend of mine is a K9 police officer. "
"He helped Make-A-Wish grant a wish to a set of twins with the deadliest form of Cystic Fibrosis."
"Most of the time kids with CF aren’t allowed to be around others with it because of cross infecting bacteria."
"Them being twins shortens their life expectancy even more."
"Well these 10 year old boys wanted to meet a police dog."
"My friend and some of his buddies upped the wish and during their meeting of his dog they got called to help solve three 'crimes' in their town."
"They pulled over a high jacker, found and arrested a robber and helped find a 'missing' six year old, my friend’s nephew."
"The town police department gave them certificates and honorary police badges for their work."
"Around 200 people showed up to where they got their awards to cheer them on."
"At their eleventh birthday they gave my friend a plaque they made with their dad thanking him for the best day ever."- hisamsmith
Becoming Their Heroes And Role Models.
"To be a 'merman', a boy mermaid."
"He got a tail and swam in the giant tank with other mermaids at the aquarium."
"To play football with 'the red team'."
"No pro or college preference , just had to be red."
"USC made it happen."
"To be a 'cool kid'."
"Got a limo ride to the mall."
"Red carpet entrance with cheering fans, signed autographs, shopping spree for clothes."
"5 years old, so cute- and very 'cool'."
"To be Robin, not Batman.. he said he wasn’t ready for that."
"Went on an epic adventure fighting crime with Batman."- scootercomputes
The Enviable Sloth
"I worked at a hospice and we had a wishing program. One of our patients, 24 year old with brain cancer, wanted to hold a sloth. Apparently, sloths are very nervous creatures, so it's a little tricky to actually hold one."
"I found a local company that does visits to schools and whatnot who had a sloth. Sloths only poop about once a week and the sloth could only travel the day after he pooped (because they get nervous, any longer than that and the sloth has stress diarrhea). So basically, we had to wait until the sloth pooped and then set up the visit for the next day. The sloth pooped on Thanksgiving, so we set up the visit for the next morning. The patient was able to hold and pet a very sweet sloth. The patient died about three weeks later, and I am very happy I was able to help give her some joy in her final weeks."
"The hospice I worked at had a special program called Faithful Wishes for any of our patients, regardless of age. As the Volunteer Coordinator, fulfilling these wishes was part of my job. I do believe there are other non-profit organizations that grant wishes to adults, but nothing as large as Make-a-Wish".
"Yes, the sloth was tame and lived in an animal preserve. He would also visit schools and retirement communities, schedule permitting. And yes, I absolutely learned more about sloth bowel movements than I ever wanted to 🤷♀️"- ByteAboutTown
Stepping Up
"I worked at a LEGO retail store in the 2000s and Make-A-Wish approached us for a child with terminal Osteosarcoma who wanted to be in the store for a day. LEGO unfortunately denied the request (which surprised myself and the rest of the staff because LEGO was a pretty great company). Staff decided to honor the request ourselves. We closed the store early on a Sunday, then invited the kid and family in. He had a full run of the store, we collectively paid for like $1000 worth of toys for him to take home, and just spent the entire evening building w/e he wanted. He died a few months later 😭"
-JakeRogue
Pickle Party
"There was a Make-a-Wish kid in a class I taught once and their wish was to tour a pickle factory."
"Pickles were their all time favorite food and they wanted to see how the sausage was made so to speak."
"Apparently Vlasic rose to the occasion in a major way and she had the time of her life." - ligamentary
Veterinarian
"I was approached by a similar organization who wanted to arrange a day for a kid to shadow a veterinarian. I’m just a small animal veterinarian with a small hospital so I found it odd that I’d be approached."
"I said yes (who tf would say no?) and we picked a day and had our regular patients in the hospital and the kid got to watch us do our thing for a day. We gave him a lab coat and a stethoscope and let him tag along and see x-rays and ultrasounds and watch surgeries. I brought my dog in so he could try the ultrasound on her."
"He seemed to enjoy it. It wasn’t a terribly strange request really, it just seems like my day-to-day isn’t something anyone would consider their dream experience."
-TankVet
NPCs
"In wizard 101 there’s a quest with an NPC named Brandon, named after a make-a-wish kid who played the game, and his request was to design a side quest for the game. You meet Brandon and go help him clear out this dungeon with 2 really hard bosses, was a lotta fun. At the end U get a gem you can socket that lets you summon Brandon into battle as a follower, pretty cool. Not sure what ended up happening to Brandon, but it’s really cool that thousands of ppl have gotten to enjoy being a part of his wish tbh." - Arkneryyn·
Happy Camper
"I’m a Wish Granter! My strangest personal wish was a refurbished 80’s camper so that she could have her own space (she couldn’t go out in public while her transplant was new-ish, and she was going crazy in the house with two younger siblings). It was actually pretty cool, although the strange part was that MAW can’t actually use “used” things like that. So we had to get her a new VW camper (or something like that, it’s been a while) and “artfully” make it look vintage. So strange."
"Anyways, please feel free to apply to be a Make-A-Wish volunteer! It’s such a rewarding experience, and even if you don’t feel like you can work with the kids, there’s also other volunteer positions like fundraising, event planning, and more!" -SemiSweetStrawberry·
Dog Days
"I had a coworker at my student job in college who had leukemia as a child. He wished to be in the Iditarod so they flew his family to Alaska and he got to meet all the dogs and ride in a sled for a leg of the race. If I remember correctly he also got a husky puppy."
"He was 20 when I met him. I was a couple of years older and graduated college and never saw him again. The leukemia came back and he died in 2016. I don’t think he was much older than 25. One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I hope heaven is real just for you, Ben." - gaycryptid
Some young children dream big, while some still aren't aware just how big they can dream.
Strange as some of their wishes may be, anything that brings a smile to the face of a child with so little to smile about is as close to a dream come true as anyone is likely to get.
While also rapidly decreasing the world's supply of tissues.