JOHN CENA: MAKING WISHES COME TRUE
- 04/30/2012 (12:44:01 am)
- Bob Mulrenin
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To honor World Wish Day, the actor/wrestler shares a touching look at the joy Make-A-Wish brings to kids.
John Cena
Wishing is powerful stuff. When we make wishes, we push ourselves to reach beyond what seems possible. We stake out a vision.
As powerful as the act of wishing is, actually having those wishes come true can be a game-changer, one of life’s pivot points.
That’s the story of Chris Greicius, a 6-year-old Arizona boy who wished to be a police officer on April 29, 1980. Volunteers who granted his wish that day were so moved that they created Make-A-Wish, which has grown into a global charity that now grants a child’s wish every 23 minutes.
April 29 is World Wish Day, which celebrates Chris’ legacy with wishes being granted worldwide. It’s a day to think about how wishing makes our world better.
How do I know? I’m not just a wrestler, actor and rap artist. I am a wish-granter.
Through Make-A-Wish, I have granted the wishes of hundreds of children with life-threatening medical conditions. And I get to watch each wish experience transform lives.
Of all the tough guys I tangle with in the WWE ring, I’ve never encountered more bravery or toughness than I see in each wish kid I meet.
Just to qualify for a Make-A-Wish experience these kids battle for life. Thanks to medical advances, most will live to adulthood; some will not. They struggle with pain and fear. Their families are terrified.
But given the chance to make their wish, they rediscover something inside: their voice, their dreams and their capacity to wrestle their futures back from the illness and medicine that are at war within them.
As these kids come looking for a chance to interact with my WWE persona, they are living that moment on their terms. And they exude pure joy. Triumph. Their parents, often through tears, say the wish experience has given them their children back.
There is a lesson here for all of us. About making wishes, and about granting them.
Wishing is powerful stuff.
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