Once Upon a Wish by Rachelle Sparks Read Free Book Online Page A

She wasn’t ready to let go of the idea that life could remain that way. But when doctors admitted Tatum that very day, Sherry knew it was time, time to let go of their trip as the start of their “happily ever after.” Instead, she would look at it as a reminder of what life would be like after they beat cancer. It was time, once again, to fight, as the whirlwind they had escaped pulled back, circling and suffocating them.
    “Did you pack your bags?” Dr. Mittal asked.
    Sherry nodded. “They’re always in our car.”
    A few days later, after extensive testing and agonizing hours of waiting, Dr. Mittal’s mouth moved in slow motion, his words a useless hum, as fancy medical terms fell and landed upon unwilling ears.
    “Is she going to live or die?” Sherry interrupted, her eyes like stone.
    “She has PTLD—post-transplant lymphoma disorder,” the doctor said, referring to lumps they had found in Tatum’s armpit, in her ribcage, and along the walls of her rectum. “This could be serious.”
    Ten days after being admitted, Tatum sunk into her hospital bed and remained there. “How are you feeling, baby?” Sherry asked. Nothing.
    “Is there anything I can do for you?” Silence.
    “C’mon, Tate, you need to talk to us.”
    For two weeks, Tatum looked out her window and rolled or closed her eyes when nurses came in to take her blood, change her IV, or give her the medicine she needed to fight the cancer.
    She was defeated, and it frightened Sherry. The spirit of her lively, energetic daughter was dead.
    “Wooooo-wooooo-woooo,” Tatum heard from down the hall. She gave the first smirk Sherry had seen in weeks as she turned her head toward the doorway.
    Nurse John skidded to an imaginary halt and pretended to put his ambulance into park. He got his needles and gloves ready and attempted to make a breakthrough with his young patient.
    “Done anything cool lately?” he asked playfully.
    Tatum gazed at the pink princess tiara hanging in her hospital room. “Yeah,” she started, then sat up a little and didn’t stop. She told Nurse John stories of the princesses she had met on her Wish trip, the lines for the theme park rides where she and her family had been escorted to the front, the banana splits they ate for breakfast, the six-foot-tall rabbit, the carousel, her eighth birthday party with the princesses, and the free pizza they could order at any time, day or night.
    “One time, the delivery guy had on a crystal watch and a three-piece suit!” Tatum exclaimed excitedly.
    She was back.
    From that point on, she made every nurse and doctor sit in her room’s rocking chair for pre-poke, pre-test, or pre-procedure story time. She was reliving her wish and taking the rest of the family there with her. It was the only normalcy she had experienced in nearly a year, and the mere thought that life could become the healthy, fun-filled destination she had experienced on her Wish trip made her fight for it.
    And she did.

    Tatum and her parents left the hospital nearly two months later, cancer-free, with hope they had never felt before. So grateful for what the foundation had given to her family, Sherry spoke to the Make-A-Wish Foundation board the day after their return home.
    “You’ve literally turned our girls’ lives into Wish trips,” she said, her voice heavy with threatening tears. “When they see bad in this world, we can point to you to remind them that there is still so much good. Your work and example is what brings it alive and makes it real for the kids. You guys are a light in the darkness. A city on the hill. We’re grateful for a wonderful wish come true for Tatum and thankful for all you’ve done for us.”
    She paused and finished with, “It’s our prayer that God makes our family useful to your cause.”
   Epilogue   
    Seven years have passed since Tatum’s Wish trip, and her mother’s prayer is still being answered. After her bout with cancer, Tatum immediately became involved