March is Children’s Wish Month, and one special Kelowna family is getting their wish granted to experience water slides, Canada’s Wonderland and Niagara Falls.
Liam Lauinger was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, the same cancer Terry Fox had, when he was nine.
“We had amazing doctors and were able to save his leg,” said mother Amber Biglow.
Now 12, cancer free, and attending Rutland Middle School, things are looking up for Lauinger and his family, despite minor setbacks with his recovering leg.
His wish is to stay somewhere in Canada because “it’s too hot in Florida,” he said.
Biglow described Liam as a fish, always loving the water, which is why Lauinger wants to spend time at Great Wolf Lodge in Toronto.
Biglow sees the trip as a means to end the chapter on a difficult part in the family’s life.
“We’re hoping he’s just able to get away from it all for a while,” she said.
The family is having their wish granted by the Children’s Wish Foundation.
“I think for me it’s kind of recognition for what he’s been through,” said Biglow. “These kids who get these wishes, they’re going through something that as adults, it’s so hard to imagine. When I see him getting to pick this it’s kind of like the world is saying to him ‘you know what, we realize what you’ve gone through and we have your back.’ He’s gone through so much. It’s changed how his life is.”
Lauinger will travel to Toronto in June, 2018 with his seven-year-old sister Logan Lauinger, father Shilo Lauinger and Biglow.
To celebrate Children’s Wish Month, Pacific Blue Cross has teamed up with the B.C. and Yukon chapter of the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada to launch the Text Bluewish campaign.
In the past five years, the wishes of 14 Kelowna children fighting life-threatening illnesses have been granted. But there are 11 pending wishes to make a reality.
The fastest way for community members to donate to help grant wishes is by texting BLUEWISH to 80100 to give $5, $10 or $20. Donations can also be made online at textbluewish.ca. Pacific Blue Cross will match donations to help reach a goal of $10,000 – the average cost of a wish.