Sixteen-year-old Tori from NW Wisconsin has been battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. In addition to cancer, she also has significant developmental delays, which has caused some major hardships in understanding & dealing with the symptoms and treatments for her serious diagnosis. When our volunteers met with her, she described her wish in detail – to go on a beach vacation with her family to fish in the ocean, and maybe go on a dolphin cruise! She fishes often with her parents and grandparents and wanted to experience the super fun adventure of saltwater fishing. She also wanted to simply kick back and relax on the beach. Needless to say, Wishes & More was thrilled to plan her dream beach vacation on South Padre Island!
We also know the importance of anticipating a wish-come-true. Before her “Wish Approval Letter” went out, we received a four-pack of tickets to a Timberwolves game in March that we happily offered to Tori and family. We worked with the T-wolves game presentation team to orchestrate an on-court “reveal” to her that her wish was coming true during the game! The surprise completely floored Tori – AND the Wolves not only won the game, but they also gave her an Anthony Towns City Edition jersey!
Just four weeks later, Tori boarded the plane that would take her to South Padre Island with a big smile spread across her face. The bumps on the plane made her tummy tickle, but that was nothing compared to what we had in store for her! She and her family fished on the bay, saw sea turtles and many dolphins, visited the Elon Musk launch pad, welcomed Grandpa to Texas for a special visit, and spent a lot of time simply soaking up the sun. She had never been in the ocean and giggled when the waves tipped her over. They had an amazing trip away from doctor’s appointments and made many incredible memories together. That big smile never left her face!
Tori’s mom specifically mentioned the amazing treatment they received from everyone throughout the wish – special thanks to South Padre Island Surf Shuttle for shuttling Tori and family to/from the island, Captain Murphy’s for the dolphin cruise and the bay fishing outing, the Timberwolves for a fun reveal, and our amazing supporters, Dawn & Duke Cooper, for providing their beautiful condo to Tori and family to call home while in Texas.
