Make-A-Wish

February 26, 2010

Alisha was so looking forward to her dedicated Hawaiian-themed party, which the Make-A-Wish Foundation had arranged to honor her Wish. We almost had called to cancel the party due to Alisha's sudden onset of slight fever. This past week has been a terrible week for her and she spent most of the day on the sofa trying to regain some strength while falling in and out of sleep.

Weeks ago, Alisha's Wish Coordinator, Rebecca and called to set up a dinner party at Tommy Bahama in Newport Beach. Originally, we thought the party would be at Downtown Disney due to Alisha alluding to Disneyland and Legos as some of her favorite things during the wish interview. We were all so pleasantly surprised as we arrived at Tommy Bahama where Rebecca and another volunteer greeted us with beautiful leis made out of fresh orchids. Alisha slowly dragged herself to the corner of the restaurant where the party was set up for her and she all of a sudden lit up when she saw a massive display of a SpongeBob Squarepants stuffed animal, balloons, Hawaiian decorations, paintings, lovely table setting and of course, a two-layer SpongeBob cake with edible cartoon characters and lego pieces. The girls oogled over the cake and Alisha could not resist in tasting an edible lego brick.

The fabulous dishes, which composed of crab cakes, flat bread with goat cheese, scallops & shrimp with coconut rice, halibut, gnocchi, ahi tuna, salmon, etc. were absolutely delicious! We were able to bag the leftovers and Alisha enjoyed every last bite of it and asked to return to the restaurant soon. We had no idea that dinner included an entertaining show put up by volunteers from Le Polynesia. These three hula girls were so quick with their movements. The girls were mesmerized by their fancy costumes and wondered how these girls could dance so well. After the dinner shows, Alisha was presented with her Wish.

Underneath the big display with the SpongeBob Squarepants stuffed animal were 14 sets of legos all wrapped with Spongebob wrapping papers. Our jaws just dropped when we starred at the number of boxes purchased for Alisha. Some of the legos included: Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, movable ferris wheel, hotel, houses, grocery stores, architectural buildings, SpongeBob, etc. Ashley was also given some presents, so she did not feel left out. Alisha had only opened three boxes of legos before she started complaining of her stomach pain. We had her lay down and the Manager at Tommy Bahama help cut and serve the cake.

After 15 minutes, Alisha propped herself up for a few remaining gifts. Make-A-Wish had commissioned a lego-design artist to build a gray dolphin exclusively for Alisha. The dolphin made out of legos stretched about four feet long and the work was so meticulous and perfect. Alisha love her own lego dolphin (it took the artist 3 weeks to complete) since part of her wish was to swim with the dolphins. Her other major gift was from Captain Dave in Dana Point. The gift was an excursion for her and the family to go on a whale / dolphin safari for 2-1/2 hours when Alisha gets better. The special high-tech catamaran is constructed, so we could better spot the whales and dolphins.

All in all, Alisha was very surprised and happy with her Wish despite feeling horrible. There are many generous people out there who we are very grateful to in order for Alisha's Wish to become possible. We are deeply touched and thankful for their philanthropic display of kindness. THANK YOU!