As a teenage girl, Nicky was struggling with Stage II Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and her future looked to be very tough and bleak. Even though the road to recovery seemed long and strenuous, she held on to her desire to follow in her mother’s footsteps into the dental field. In August 2008, Nicky asked Wishes & More® for an Alaskan cruise, hoping it might provide some relief for the extraordinarily heavy burdens she was enduring. Nicky, along with her sister and parents, watched whales from the ship’s deck, dined at sumptuous seafaring buffets, and enjoyed an experience they will never forget. She smiles widely just recalling it.
But giving Nicky her wish wasn’t enough Wishes & More®, so just like every other eligible wish child, Nicky was offered the Scholarship of Hope®. At the time, Nicky said she didn’t think much about it, seeing as her condition consumed much of her life. The scholarship got her thinking seriously about what she wanted to do with her future, and dreams of becoming a dentist crept back into her mind. Simultaneously, her health began to improve which made her even more eager to apply to schools. Now 18 years old, healthy, and fully recovered from her Hodgkin’s, Nicky is thrilled to be graduating from Woodbury High School and moving on to Century College’s dental program. The Scholarship of Hope® will be used to pay for her first term’s tuition. “I’m so grateful to Wishes & More® for everything. Of course knowing that the tuition is there was nice, but the faith that I might someday see this dream come true was invaluable,” she says. “Now I’ll get to help lots of other people smile, too!” Thank you to Simek’s Inc. for sponsoring Nicky’s incredible Alaskan trip, and also for helping her accelerate her career dreams!
