President Barack Obama with Make-A-Wish recipient Nick Wetzel and his older brother Stephan on December 9, 2016
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of seriously ill children. The organization is headquartered in Phoenix[2] and operates through its 58 chapters located throughout the United States. Make-A-Wish also operates in about 50 other countries through 39 international affiliates.[3] Professional wrestler John Cena holds the title for the most wishes granted by a single individual, at over 650 wishes.[4][5]
In the 1997 made-for-TV movie A Child's Wish, Missy's wish is to go to the White House to meet the president who was responsible for signing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 into law, which her father lobbied to pass after being fired for visiting Missy in the cancer ward. Make-A-Wish is not sure she will get to meet the president or be allowed to see the Oval Office, but in the end, President Bill Clinton, playing himself in a cameo appearance, meets her to make her wish come true.
A 1997 sketch of the HBO series Mr. Show with Bob and David focuses on a knock-off of Make-a-Wish called "Dream of a Lifetime", an organization run by two men trying to offer a discount for families of ill children, but whose lack of resources or connections ends with one of them in prison.
In the South Park episode "Kenny Dies", Make-A-Wish is satirized when they visit Kenny in the hospital and ask what his one wish is.
In January 2008, the satirical news site The Onion produced a parody video claiming that the Make-A-Wish was bankrupted due to a child's wish for "infinite wishes". The video was apparently so convincing that some people believed it to be real, and it had to be debunked by the urban legends website Snopes.[6]The Mansion and The Chaser's War on Everything did similar sketches about the Make-A-Wish, the latter causing an unprecedented amount of controversy.[7][8][9][10]
In the 2008 feature film New York, I Love You, an unnamed boy (played by Anton Yelchin) takes a girl who uses a wheelchair (played by Olivia Thirlby) to prom night. When they run into an ex-girlfriend and the situation gets awkward, the girl says "Make A Wish" to release the tension, suggesting the boy is granting her wish to attend prom night while being in a wheelchair. Later, she uses the sentence "Make A Wish" again, suggesting she wants the boy to make love to her.
Make-a-Wish made headlines in 2013 with an elaborate Batman-themed wish, turning a young child into "Batkid". This wish was heavily publicized, and was chronicled in a documentary entitled Batkid Begins. In 2018 Batkid was considered to be cancer-free.[11]
In The Fault in Our Stars, a 2014 American romantic drama film, the character Augustus suggests that Hazel should use the "cancer wish" she received from "Genies" - a fictional organization just like Make-A-Wish - to travel to Amsterdam to visit her favorite author.
In a comedy sketch from the Key & Peeleseason 4 episode "Scariest Movie Ever", Jordan Peele portrays a dying child unsettling his doctor and a Make-a-Wish representative with increasingly disturbing "wishes", deliberately provoking the doctor into calling him a "devil child" and questioning his beliefs about "the essential goodness of children."[12]
In the episode "Infamous" of Ninjago, the ninja go to a hospital to fulfill a wish made by a hospital patient through the Grant-a-Wish Foundation, a reference to Make-a-Wish.
In Zac & Mia, a 2017 American romanceteen dramaweb television series based on the novel of the same name, the titular character Zac uses the wish he received from Make-A-Wish to recreate prom for Mia after she initially forgoes her own due to her embarrassment over her current medical condition.
Four children were guest-stars on the show Cake Boss in 2017, in which Buddy Valastro helped the four children make one-of-a-kind cakes before making a hot air balloon cake for a reception for a Make-A-Wish event.[13]
In Survivor: San Juan del Sur, thirteen year-old Make-A-Wish child Austin Russell contributed a reward obstacle course as part of his wish.[14]
In the musical Kimberly Akimbo, the titular character Kimberly Levaco, a sixteen-year-old with an unnamed disease that makes her age four and a half times as fast as normal, sends a letter to Make-A-Wish in a song aptly titled "Make-A-Wish", agonizing over what to wish for before settling on a treehouse.
In 2022, Disney Cruise Line chose to christen all Make-A-Wish foundation children as the Godchildren of the newest ship in the Disney fleet, the Disney Wish. Previously ships were named after female characters and role models such as Tinker Bell, Jennifer Hudson and Mariah Carey.
Seven-year-old Carter Lucero, a soccer fan supporting Minnesota United FC from Tucson, Arizona, suffers from cystic fibrosis. On 17 July 2024, his wish of scoring for his favorite soccer team came true, as he scored a goal before the start of Minnesota United's match against D.C. United at the Allianz Field. In addition to the goal, Lucero also signed a lifetime contract with the club.[15]
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