[music] [children's laughter] ESMERALDA PEREZ: I'm Esmeralda.

I'm a Make-A-Wish Kid, a Make-A-Wish volunteer, and a Wish Granter.

So, when I was in high school, I was diagnosed with cancer, Hodgkins Lymphoma.

I was a junior in high school.

I had lots of younger siblings.

I was a swimmer, and very unexpected when I found out that I had cancer.

FORREST DOOLEN: You can imagine so many inspiring stories of courageous children and their families and communities.

PATTI GORSKY: And so a child can hope and dream and think about things other than the doctor's appointments and the surgeries and the medical procedures.

And instead turn their focus a little bit differently and to think about possibilities instead.

MARIANNA TELLEZ: Nosotros si hemos visto en estudios que con tener un deseo les da como más fuerza para luchar contra sus enfermedades, les da más fuerza para luchar en sus tratamientos, han sido más felices, han recuperado más rápidamente.

Entonces, si es algo real, es algo muy especial tener un deseo.

ESMERALDA PEREZ: I can wish for anything?

What does that mean?

When I really thought about it, my diagnosis, it didn't just affect me.

It affected my entire family, and so when I thought I have a wish, I wanted to share it with my family.

So I wished to go to Hawaii with my family.

PATTI GORSKY: Esmeralda went through a difficult medical journey, and she wished to go to Hawaii.

And when she went to Hawaii, it became a life affirming trip, and fun and magic and memories and all those good things.

She loved it so much that she said, I can make a difference in other kids' lives like Make-A-Wish made a difference for me.

ESMERALDA PEREZ: I always liked helping other people.

I think it comes from being Hispanic and being the oldest sibling of so many younger siblings that I like to help, and I like to see people grow.

PATTI GORSKY: We make magic.

Let those kids dream, and we make it happen --within good sense, though, because some of the stuff we just can't make happen.

But we believe in the impossible.

FORREST DOOLEN: So as long as a child is between the ages of 2 and 18 and they medically qualify for a wish and they haven't received a wish from anyone else, they get a wish.

So there is no gap between the requests and what wishes need to be granted.

MARIANNA TELLEZ: Hay como una espera como de un año o de tanto tiempo para planear todo y trabajar con nosotros.

Pero en ese momento siente que nada de eso significa nada más.

Son ellos y su deseo y su felicidad que están ahí presentes en el momento.

ESMERALDA PEREZ: My wish and my cancer history that was 10 years ago and still to be able to use my story to help other people and inspire people and it is powerful.

PATTI GORSKY: A wish is part of the treatment plan that it can help focus that child on something different, and when we all have that positive thing to look forward to, it changes kind of the mental outlook of the emotional outlook on things.

And it is part of the treatment plan that often helps in a recovery, and when it doesn't, because there are many cases where it doesn't, it's certainly the outcome is still beautiful memories, happiness, fun, family ties together, and things like that.

FORREST DOOLEN: That we do lose some of those kids.

I mean that is a reality.

We have these, some of the kids, they don't make it, and so the wish for them is really important because one, it's given them that hope and joy while they still were here.

[music] ESMERALDA PEREZ: It's sometimes the news that we receive from doctors, it's really hard to swallow and hard to put into perspective.

Sometimes we do beat the impossible because there are some kids that I've met that have already lived past maybe the lifespan that their doctors had given them.

PATTI GORSKY: Medical professionals refer all of the eligible kids to us, and so we have made a real concerted effort to make sure that we have bilingual staff, can meet the kids and their families where they are.

And so, we get rid of those barriers so that we can serve these kids and their families because they deserve it.

MARIANNA TELLEZ: Sí, yo creo que es un poco difícil a veces, porque las familias no están tan acostumbradas a recibir cosas.

Entonces yo creo que a veces es difícil decir que sí, cuando muchas veces en la vida han escuchado que no o han tenido que luchar por cosas y seguir adelante.

FORREST DOOLEN: And medical conditions, critical illnesses, those touch every single community.

It doesn't matter whether you speak English, Spanish, French, Farsi.

Medical conditions affect everybody, and so we need volunteers who are, who can speak those languages and who also reflect those families.

ESMERALDA PEREZ: I think spreading more awareness like we are now, because another thing that I hear from my community is, well, my kid doesn't deserve that because I know someone else is worse off.

And so they feel guilty as if they're taking a wish from someone when in reality each wish is granted, and each of the kids that are referred, they deserve a wish too, and they deserve to have some kind of happiness and hope.

FORREST DOOLEN: We categorize our wishes generally in four, but there's really a fifth type as well, so "I wish to go..." I wish to go to Disneyworld.

I wish to go to California.

I wish to go to Hawaii.

PATTI GORSKY: "I wish to be" I wish to be a ballerina.

I wish to be a pilot.

Something like that.

FORREST DOOLEN: I wish to have a gaming computer or I wish to have a video game system or I wish to have a room makeover.

I wish to have a playhouse.

MARIANNA TELLEZ: Las niñas desean tener quinceañeras y eso es muy lindo poder conceder algo tan cultural.

PATTI GORSKY: All of those things help focus a child on dreaming instead of on the difficult circumstances they're going through.

ESMERALDA PEREZ: Each child deserves just to have that happiness, that support, and for the family as a whole just to have like some time away from the stress and just spend some quality time together.

FORREST DOOLEN: And so for me to be able to do this incredible work.

I get emotional about Make-A-Wish because I know that I get to do this great work of giving children and their families and our community life-changing hope.

PATTI GORSKY: People who are involved say that they get more than they give, and it is that gift of perspective.

[music]