“The one that’s most fresh in my mind is George’s wish.”
I’m talking to Jason Suckley, CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the UK.
“I met George and his mum a couple of years ago, and he had, at the time, they knew he had a terminal condition, so they created what she called a ‘bucket and spade list’ because he was too young to have a bucket list. He couldn’t speak at that time because he’d lost his power of speech but they were obviously very, very close. And one of the things on the list was to go tobogganing in Austria.
“We were able to say yes.
“Half-way down the mountain she asked him a question and he spoke to her for the first time in eighteen months.”
She asked something like, “Are you having fun?” And he replied something like, “Yes I am.” But the words don’t really matter: he spoke.
“Um…” Suckley falters.
“I never should have chosen this wish.
“Then George passed away not long after that.”
They show me a video of George’s wish. They’d rather I don’t share it here, because it would draw a lot of attention to it, but there are other videos you can watch it on the Make-A-Wish YouTube channel. I watch as George careers down a tobogganing run sandwiched between his mum’s legs, and he is – they are – having a great time. His mum talks about hearing him speak and what it means to her, and what the experience meant to her and George, and it means the world.
As the video ends, there are sniffles around me. Suckley has been streaming. He turns to me, sees my eyes and says, “Don’t take away sadness.
“As you can see, it’s more about the power of the wish and the difference wishes make. That, inherently, is a sad story, but it is much more than that. The memories of those moments will last a lifetime, and they do last a lifetime, however long ago it was.”
Then he smiles and says, “I’m going to get a cup of tea,” and he does.
You might have heard of Make-A-Wish. Bethesda’s Todd Howard has talked about how inviting Make-A-Wish children to the famous Elder Scrolls studio was “by far the greatest thing” it does, and John Cena, the superstar wrestler, regularly meets Make-A-Wish children. He’s the record holder with 600 wishes granted, which is extraordinary, although he’s far from the only celebrity involved. Bieber has 250.