It’s been a long three years for Adrian Olivas, who has been battling ulcerative colitis.
“Colitis is where you have inflammation in your intestines, actually colon. He was very sick.” said Dora Olivas, Adrian’s mom.
Adrian has endured several surgeries, and it was actually his surgeon who inspired this adventurous wish: a trip to Africa.
“It’s something different, and my surgeon, before procedures, he would show me pictures,” said Adrian.
His mom never expected the wish to come true.
“Well, when he told me he wanted to go to Africa, I thought, ‘whatever.’ I didn’t really think they were going to let him go to Africa,” said Dora.
Make-A-Wish, of course, found a way to send Adrian to Africa. Adrian first had to overcome a big fear.
“It was, I don’t know, scary at first because I’m scared of heights. Scared of flying over water. Then it was a long flight,” said Adrian.
Before the 15-hour flight, he had some time to explore New York. Then, it was off to Johannesburg and Cape Town.
“In Johannesburg, it took like two hours to get to where we would stay. It was in the middle of the safari. If you walked out of the room or whatever, you saw the animals, too,” said Adrian.
The day of the safari, they had no idea what they were going to see, but they were in for a full day of exploring.
“Well, we got chased by an elephant. I don’t know how I felt about it. It was scary. It actually went in front of us,” said Adrian
It wasn’t just elephants they got to see up close and personal. Adrian said there were also giraffes, rhinos, zebras, hippos and more.
After that trip, he said he is ready to book his next visit to Africa.
If you’d like to get involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, just give them a call at 806-785-9474.
