To "Make-A-Wish
My 17 year old son w/CF was reffered for a wish a few years ago. He is still very healthy and even ran Varsity Cross Country Track throughout high school. I was floored whe we recieved a letter from "Make A Wish" saying that he had been referred. To this day, we do not know who made the referral, but we had a GREAT time during his wish.
At the time Make a Wish contacted us, Andrew was 14 1/2. They asked him what he would want if he could have any wish in the world. He looked at the Make A Wish volunteer and stated the same wish we had been hearing from him since he was old enough to talk. " I want to drive a NASCAR! " <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> They had to wait until he was over 16 and had his driver's license, but in July 2005, Make a Wish sent Andrew ( and the rest of the family ) to Charlotte , N.C. to visit the NASCAR racing shops there , Carowinds theme park, and, Andrew got to go to the Richard Petty Driving School @ Lowe's Motor Speedway and DRIVE! It was fantastic watching him gear up, climb in that car all by himself and take it up to track speed for a few laps. The grin on his face as he climbed out of the car and pulled off that helmet was a grin I had never seen before but really hope to see again sometime. ( Although seeing it on paper that he drove 160 mph, made me a bit queasy.)
In the time we were at Charlotte, we checked out every racing team's shop we could get to. On the day before we left, Andrew had a VIP tour of Joe Gibbs Racing. ( Tony Stewart is Andrew's absolute favorite driver ) He was allowed in places in the shop where non-team members are not allowed.
They had a couple of bags of souveniers for Andrew including one of the fireproof Crew jackets from Tony's team. Andrew was told that those gifts were hand picked for him by Tony Stewart. Unfortunately, Andrew was not able to meet Tony Stewart while we were there.<img src="i/expressions/brokenheart.gif" border="0">
In all, it was a truly fantastic trip for Andrew! Make A Wish is terrific and if you get the chance, DO IT!