Here is a Christmas reunion story that should tug at your heart strings. A young man, who is fighting leukemia had one wish. He wanted his entire family to be together. It took considerable effort, but his family was able to make his wish come true.
Dylan Jared Barrera was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 18 years old. Previous to this diagnosis, he was someone who never seemed to get sick. Suddenly, he was having constant headaches that did not go away after taking over-the-counter medicine. The doctor that his family went to realized that something serious was going on with Dylan, and instructed Dylan’s mother to take him to an ER, immediately. After some tests were done, it was revealed that Dylan had leukemia. Now age 19, Jared has been fighting the disease, which has involved so many rounds of chemotherapy that he has lost count of them. The doctors describe his battle as a “very, very hard and bad war”.
Unsure if he would live to see another Christmas, Jared had just one wish. He wanted his entire family to be together with him. This reunion was not simply a matter of having the whole family jump into their cars, and clear their schedule that day. One of the family members, Jared’s brother-in-law, was in the United States Army, and he was stationed on a military base in Iraq.
Dylan’s mother talked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, in an effort to make Dylan’s wish come true. Unfortunately, Dylan was older than the cut off age that the foundation is limited by. Instead, she got help from Granted Wish, an organization that is based in Ohio, and that helps with wishes of people of all ages. Dylan’s mother asked the Granted Wish Foundation to help get Jared’s brother-in-law home for this reunion.
Happily, Granted Wish was able to help, and Dylan got his wish of a Christmas family reunion. Television cameras and reporters gathered around, as Dylan’s family, including the brother-in-law who was stationed in Iraq, Dylan’s sister, their three children, and Dylan’s mother, gathered together. Everyone in the family had to wear blue hospital smocks to help prevent Dylan from the risk of getting an infection, but there were able to be there. What a joyful moment that must have been!
Image by Vicky Brock on Flickr