How you can help
- Sheryl Roddy, president/volunteer for the Greater Springfield Area Chapter of A Special Wish Foundation, encourages people to donate to the organization by sending a check to: Greater Springfield Area Chapter of A Special Wish Foundation, P.O. Box 2298, Springfield, Ohio 45501. If you would like to volunteer or if your businesses would like to give in-kind donations or services, call 937-322-7523.
- To volunteer at Dayton Children's Medical Center, go to www.childrensdayton.org/volunteer, and fill out the volunteer application. To donate to Dayton Children's, go to www.childrensdayton.org/donate. Be sure to check the matching gift section link on the right hand side of the donate Web page because many employers will match your gift to Dayton Children's.
While Janet Elam of New Carlisle was still pregnant with her daughter, she received difficult news.
She was told that her child had cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening disorder in which mucus builds up in the lungs, digestive tract and other parts of the body.
Hayley Elam, now 5 years old, has been hospitalized once every six months to a year since she was born, and goes to Dayton Children’s Medical Center for checkups and tests every two months as a result of her disorder. She has to take medication before she eats, and must undergo breathing treatments twice each day.
Hayley always had wanted to go to Walt Disney World, and in 2012, her wish came true.
Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, based at Columbus Avenue in Springfield, held a fundraiser in Aug. 2012, and gave the raised money to the Greater Springfield Area Chapter of A Special Wish Foundation, an organization that grants the wishes of children diagnosed with a life-threatening disorder. The chapter serves Clark, Champaign and Logan counties, granting wishes that cost between $4,500 to $5,000 each. In 2012, the chapter granted 10 wishes.
In September 2012, the chapter sent Hayley and her family on a trip to Florida. Hayley, her 11-year-old brother Hunter Elam, who also has cystic fibrosis, and their parents stayed at Give Kids The World Village, a resort for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, which Janet Elam said offers a restaurant, ice cream shop, movie theater, swimming pool and more.
During the day, the family, along with Hayley and Hunter’s two grandmothers who traveled to Florida separately, enjoyed trips to places including Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando, where they were allowed to skip the long lines. Hayley also went to the beach for the first time. In the evening, the family enjoyed different theme nights at the village, including a Christmas theme night where the children could sit on Santa Claus’ lap, and Hayley and Hunter would come home to find gifts from a “secret fairy.” The whole trip, including plane tickets, a rental car, theme park visits and spending money, was paid for, aside from souvenirs the family purchased.
Janet Elam said the vacation “meant everything” to her daughter. When Hayley found out about the trip, she was overcome with emotion, her mother said.
“She just lost it,” Janet Elam said of her daughter. “She started crying hysterically,”
When asked about her favorite part of the trip, Hayley said, “everything.” She loved meeting princesses, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck, and said she hopes to go back some day.
“It was a lot of fun,” Janet Elam said. “Hayley had a blast.”
The Greater Springfield Area Chapter of A Special Wish Foundation also is working on granting a wish for Hunter.
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