A recent study found that hospitals stays and medical bills were fewer for kids who received a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The power and science behind that one true wish is bringing kids and their families hope.
“It’s very cool to see the advancements that are happening around the world with Make-A-Wish and in medicine,” said Robbie Aaron, with Make-A-Wish North Texas.

According to research done at Nationwide Children’s hospital, “wish kids” are less likely to have unplanned hospital stays and ER visits. 

Doctor Anup Patel said he noticed something about one of his patients, which is why he conducted the study.

“The background of it is, he had a child who was having seizures. After he went to meet Chris Paul the NBA player, which was his wish. He noticed he came back and he was on a checkup and all of a sudden the seizures stop,” Aaron said.

That spurred Dr. Patel’s interest in how powerful wishes really are. Although this was just a small study, a lot of useful information came out of it.

“He compared the same amount of children with the same amount of conditions and gender,” Aaron said. “They equal who had a wish and who didn’t have a wish, and the results on the side with the kids who had a wish were much better than on the side of kids who didn’t have a wish.” 

These kids are battling and going through unimaginable circumstances as they fight these life threatening medical conditions.

“Often times their conditions that aren’t visible to the eye which is tougher,” Aaron said. “For them, it’s so easy to get down. It’s so easy to hear the negative and read things about their condition that their not going to make it, or this is going to happen to them.” 

So, with the news their wish is coming true, the tough times don’t seem as hard.

“What he found, because if you think about it, with a wish, you’re more likely to comply with treatment,” Aaron said. “Who wants to go have arm pricked, tubes down your throat or have surgery when there’s nothing good to look forward to. But when there’s a wish involved and you have motivation to get through it a child is more likely to comply with whatever the treatment is.” 

With the help of this study there are a record number of referrals for kids waiting on their wishes. Which means the Make-A-Wish Foundation needs donations to make dreams come true.

“So to be able to get the community to rally around wishes. We have events all across Tyler, Dallas, here in Lubbock, El Paso, and Amarillo. You can support even starting a fundraiser as well even starting one as a family,” Aaron said.

If you’d like to help out the Make-A-Wish Foundation just give them a call at 806-785-9474.