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MHS Girl Got Wish:
Student
Walk-a-thon May 7 to
Support Make-A-Wish
(May 3, 2004) Mamaroneck High School
students are walking again in memory of classmate Talia Cohen
who passed away in November 2002 during her sophomore year.
(See: Talia's
Story) The student council is sponsoring its second annual
event on Friday, May 7 from 8:00 to 10:00 pm at the high school
track.
Students are gathering pledges to earn funds
to donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which helped provide
a measure of joy for Talia by sending her and her family to
California to meet Ian Thorpe, the Australian Olympic swim
champ. Talia's mom, Naomi Cohen, has told the story of the
wish (see box). There will also be food, entertainment and
raffles to earn more funds and keep the walkers going.
Talia's Wish
by Naomi Cohen
(May 3, 2004) In March 2001, when Talia was diagnosed
with Anaplastic Wilms Tumor (a rare pediatric kidney
cancer),
a friend
of the family mentioned Make-A-Wish. Talia’s
wish was to meet
Ian & Talia |
Ian Thorpe, the Australian Olympic swimming champion, whom she had admired passionately
ever since the 2000 Summer Games. Ian was 19 in 2001,
only four years older than Talia. Talia met with a Make-A-Wish
volunteer in May 2001 to discuss her unusual wish. After
months without any news from the foundation, Talia had
given up on her wish.
On November 26, after eight months of debilitating
chemotherapy and weeks of hospitalizations, a CAT
scan showed that Talia’s cancer was no longer
responding to treatment. Talia and her parents were
plunged into despair. That evening, Make-A-Wish called
to ask if Talia and her family could be in Los Angeles
on December 11 to meet Ian Thorpe. The family scrambled
to clear the trip with Talia’s oncologist and
to arrange for her brother Danny (then a 7th grader
at Hommocks) to miss a few days of school. After
months of a grueling regimen of treatments and the
isolating experience of cancer, Talia and her family
were given the chance to experience a joyous occasion.
The global Make-A-Wish network worked together to
make Talia’s wish come true. Make-A-Wish arranged
for flights to L.A., stretch limousines to transport
them to the airport, a beautiful hotel in Santa Monica,
a car rental, and VIP passes to Universal Studios.
The highlight of the trip was lunch with Ian Thorpe
at a restaurant in L.A which lasted all afternoon.
Talia was so nervous, she was hardly able to speak,
but she did manage to give Ian a CD she had burned
of all of his favorite songs. Ian Thorpe told Talia
she was the first person who had ever wished to meet
him through Make-A-Wish, and he was deeply honored.
Talia returned to Mamaroneck floating on the happiness
of her wish come true. She had spent a whole afternoon
with the world-famous athlete that she had admired
but had never in her wildest dreams imagined she
would ever meet. The Cohen family was able to enjoy
a family trip, the last before Talia’s death.
Make-A-Wish gave Talia and her family joy and strength
to carry on in the midst of terrible suffering and
hopelessness.
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To make a donation, send a check to:
Make- A –Wish Foundation
c/o Mrs. Barbara Rosenblum
Mamaroneck High School
1000 W. Boston Post Road
Mamaroneck, N.Y. 10543 |
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