Kid’s last wishes: Some feed the homeless, most go to Disney World

“On June 12th, 2011, I’m turning nine, and I found out that millions of people don’t live to see their 5th birthday,” Rachel Beckwith, of Bellevue, Washington, recently wrote on a donation webpage she set up with the aid organization, charity:water.

“And why? Because they didn’t have access to clean, safe water. I’m asking everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday.” Rachel’s goal was to raise $300 by her birthday. She hit $240. A month later, she was killed in a horrible chain-reaction car crash on Highway 90, in Washington. Her mother was driving, and her younger sister was in the car, too. A semitrailer jackknifed into a logging truck and rear-ended Rachel’s car. Her mother and sister were fine, but she was put into a coma. Several days later, she was taken off life support and died.

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Local newspapers and radio stations ran stories about Rachel’s unfulfilled final wish, and the actress Alyssa Milano and a Seattle Seahawks player tweeted about it. The national media picked up the story, and by the Tuesday after the accident, her contribution page had attracted more than $200,000 in pledges. In September, her church held a benefit concert that helped raise more than $300,000. The money goes towards bringing clean water to the Bayaka tribe in the Central African Republic. “I am in awe of the overwhelming love to take my daughter’s dream and make it a reality,” Rachel’s mother exclaimed to reporters. “In the face of unexplainable pain, you have provided undeniable hope.”

Another selfless last-wish story is that of Brendan Foster, a cheerful, curly-headed 11-year-old from the suburbs of Seattle. He was dying of leukemia but had one final wish: to feed the homeless. “I should be gone in a week or so,” a sad but still sprightly Brendan told CNN in 2008. Coming home from a cancer treatment appointment, he noticed an area of grass covered with red tents filled with homeless people. “I thought I should just get them something,” said Brendan. “They’re probably starving.”

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Brendan was too sick to deliver them food himself, but local and national newspapers publicized his message, and volunteers flocked to his side. They prepared more than 200 sandwiches, half ham and cheese and half peanut butter and jelly. “He said he didn’t want to do just all peanut butter and jelly,” said one volunteer, “because what if somebody was allergic to peanut butter.” Such thoughtfulness seems remarkable for an 11-year-old, as are his views on death. When asked if he felt sad to be dying so young, Brendan responded: “I had a great time, and until my time is done, I’m going to keep having a good time.” He died on November 21, 2008. The Seattle Seahawks paid for his funeral. His story inspired feed the homeless movements in Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, and Pensacola, Florida. A Vietnam vet who had lost his legs in the war was so moved by the story he gave Brendan his Purple Heart.

Both Brendan’s and Rachel’s last wishes were rather unusual. Most dying children want to meet a famous person or go to Disney World. In fact, final wishes have become big business, with philanthropic organizations that cater to fulfilling last wishes springing up around Orlando. Kids come from across the USA and Europe. The first organization to grant terminally ill children last wishes was the Sunshine Foundation, founded in Philadelphia in 1976. When hotel owner Henri Landwirth first founded Give Kids the World in 1989, an Orlando-based last wish organization, they brought about ten kids a month to the Orlando area to visit Disney World and Epcot Center. Now, they bring about 100 children a month. “I never expected in my wildest imagination that this would get so big,” founder Henri Landwirth recently said in a newspaper article.

But not all last-wish stories have storybook endings. Earlier this year, a six-year-old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia named Enzo was denied his last wish to cook with the famous Food Network chef, The Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten). Enzo’s mother loved the show, and they frequently watched it together. Garten rejected him once, saying she was busy with a book tour, but rather than choosing another wish, as some advised him to, Enzo waited and tried again with Garten. He got rejected again, this time for good: “[Ina] participates and helps as many organizations as she can throughout the year,” replied her spokesperson. “Unfortunately, as much as she would like to, it’s absolutely impossible for her to grant every request she receives.”

Have a last-wish story you want to share with us? Leave a comment below…