a WISH granted

 

When a WISH is made there are lots of things that are done behind the scenes to make it happen and to make sure that it is magical.  Last blog post, I shared some of the story behind Kaleb's journey to make his wish and how we built a new room in preparation for Kaleb's wish to be granted. 

After many emails back and forth with Make-A-Wish, we set a date and planed the big reveal.  The days leading up to his big reveal were a blur of the last bits of building, painting and, cleaning up from the construction.  Kaleb's girlfriend was a lifesaver making sure he was out of the house and busy giving us a chance to load the room with items that had been sent in advance from Make-a-Wish as well as a few items that we wanted to have placed into the room.  It was a big group effort to get it all done. Especially without alerting Kaleb to the fact that his wish was coming early! 

It was still the summer, so it was hard to make sure that all of the kids would be at home at the time of the reveal.  So we told the kids that we wanted some quality family time before Amelia left for college.  The kids were allowed to invite their significant others (who happen to know what was going on) over for an afternoon of board games and then we would all go out for dinner together.

We were all together downstairs trying to play Dutch Blitz together (we forgot the rules as it had been awhile) when there was a knock at the door.  Knowing who it was I sent Kaleb up to answer the door.  When he opened the door he was greeted by someone wearing a Make-a-Wish t-shirt... Kaleb had no clue what was going on. Kaleb called me up to the door as he was trying to figure out what was happening.  You see earlier in the summer I had told him that his wish was not going to arrive before school started.  Kaleb was confused as he thought maybe I was supposed to have a meeting with Wish to discuss more things regarding Kaleb's wish.  While I was talking to Anne from Make-a-Wish at the door, Kaleb went back downstairs to try and figure out if his sisters knew what was going on.  

We brought all of the packages that Anne had brought into the house and placed them all into the music room.  Everything was still in shipping boxes so that Kaleb could open them up and explore what was in each package.  Before Kaleb was allowed into the room Anne presented Kaleb with a special bear that is only given to kids who get to make a wish with the foundation, a t-shirt and some gift cards to Boston Pizza (one of Kaleb's favourite places to eat) 

Kaleb was then allowed to crack open the door to the new music room.  Kaleb was surprised to see a new desk and comfortable chair waiting in the room.  It was at his point that he registered that there was a stack of boxes waiting for him to open and explore.  After some prompting Kaleb started to open the boxes.  As he opened boxes Kaleb's smile kept growing.  He would stop every so often exclaiming "what?!" in disbelief.  At one point he had to sit down and just take a minute to process what was happening, all the while with a huge smile and disbelief on his face.  That was when he noticed the mini fridge in the room and we brought it to his attention that he indeed had LED strip lighting (something Kaleb has been asking for, for quite some time!) 

 

When Kaleb was done unpacking the shipping boxes we made sure to get pictures of Kaleb and Anne together with the Wish banner.  
 

 Once Anne left, Kaleb just sat in the music room...stunned, taking it all in....all the while trying to decide if he was just dreaming? We eventually got him to come out of the room as we could tell he was just so overwhelmed and it was time to head out for dinner.  We went to Boston Pizza to celebrate not only Kaleb's wish but to celebrate Kaleb being 6 months post treatment and Cancer Stable!!  It was funny as the kids were all at one end and Matt and I were at the other.  Kaleb was still in shock but we still had a great time and Lord only knows what sort of shenanigans they were getting up to on the far end of the table!!  

When we were done dinner we dropped off Kaleb's girlfriend and headed back to the house.  Kaleb went back downstairs to the music room to see if everything was still there or if it had been a dream.  As he started to unpack the equipment and start to set it up we could still hear him saying "oh wow!" and "this is crazy!" He stayed in the room learning all the new equipment while setting it up.  We did not see him come out of the room until bedtime.

The next morning I came downstairs and Kaleb was found in the music room enjoying and learning about his new set up.  Kaleb's Wish bear was given the name "Patterson" after his favourite music teacher.  Patterson has a spot in the music room where he can watch over Kaleb making music .... or making weird random sounds into the mic!  lol

 
Before school started back up Kaleb could be found in the music room learning his new equipment and creating some beats daily. 

Our Family cannot thank the Make-A-Wish Foundation enough for everything they do!!! They blew us out of the water! Not only did they grant Kaleb his wish for a music studio set up but we also were able to see our son beyond excited, in awe and with pure bliss on his face.  The stress of treatments and dealing with his cancer melted away for a moment and he was just a kid.  

 Since school has started, it has been harder for Kaleb to get in there daily but he tries to when homework loads allow him to.  Kaleb is still dealing with everything he has been through but he is finding his rhythm once again.