Wish Child Returns as a Volunteer

At age 13, a cancer diagnosis and the subsequent year of treatments left Erika not only feeling sick but very uncomfortable about starting her freshman year of high school with no hair. “I wished for a shopping spree so I could start high school with new ‘designer’ clothes.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation^® arrived with a limo to take Erika, her mom, and sister to Indianapolis for a day of fun, excitement and big spending at Circle Center Mall.

"I'll never forget that day or my whole wish experience. Planning the wish was one of the few things that I was excited about towards the end of my treatments. The day of my wish was the first time in over a year that I felt beautiful and happy again. It gave me the confidence to start high school with a smile on my face and my head held high regardless of the fact that I didn’t have any hair. And I still have a pair of Birkenstock sandals that I purchased that day.”

Today, when she is not working as a Development Director for the local YMCA, Erika volunteers for the Make-A-Wish Foundation as a wish granter to help other children with life-threatening medical conditions. “I have pictures of every wish child I’ve helped to grant a wish for and I treasure each and every story behind the pictures.”

After years of side effects from the cancer treatments, she says she is now happy, healthy and still completely cancer FREE!