For some girls, life as a sixteen-year-old is full of teen movies, driving and rebelling into the world of freedom, but of Brianna life at sixteen was nothing she could have ever prepared for. As her sixteenth birthday approached, Brianna was excited for the perks of being of legal driving age, independence and growing up, but when she visited the doctor for what she thought would be a routine trip, life as she knew it would never be the same.

Brianna was diagnosed with, sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma, a type of cancer that affects the thyroid. Shortly after her diagnosis, Brianna had to undergo surgery to remove her thyroid and nearly 40 lymph nodes, as well as have a central and left neck dissection.

Despite her painful surgeries and tremendously slow recovery, Brianna has a spectacular outlook on life. When the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® approached her with the opportunity to cast any wish her heart desired, she knew that she wanted to visit Rome, Italy.

In a letter submitted by Brianna to Make-A-Wish before her wish trip Brianna wrote:
“When Make-A-Wish asked me what wish I would like fulfilled, my mom told me to think about what I truly felt would make me happy. I did think about it for a long time and I could not think of anything but wanting to have an eternal soul. I knew that Make-A-Wish could not provide that for me so what else could I possibly wish for? I decided I could get a good start on my eternal life nowhere better than Rome, Italy, the “Eternal City”.

Brianna was able to visit the “Eternal City” and also travel to many well known sites across Italy with her entire family in July of 2009 thanks to the Kitchen Brigade for adopting her wish and sending her on the wish trip of a lifetime.

Her mom said, “When we visited the Vatican City, St. Peter’s and the Sistine Chapel, it was almost as if Brianna had been there before. She walked ahead of us, admiring the art and explaining different paintings and sculptures to us… our utmost joy was in watching Brianna’s dream unfold into a beautiful reality. I have never seen her happier, and we will hold the memories we made in Rome forever in our hearts. I cannot thank you enough for your generosity and thoughtfulness.”

She included copies of her scrapbook for us to share:

Back