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Team #WishHero!
On the 12th September 2021 our incredible team of #WishHeroes will be donning their capes and trainers to take on the 13.1 miles of the Great North Run.
The majority of this team were willing and ready to go in September 2020 for the 40th anniversary, but COVID scuppered those plans. So, 2021 is the new target! We're coming back bigger and better than ever.
I cannot thank you all at Make-A-Wish enough for such an amazing experience. I loved running for the charity and hope it gets all the donations it expected from all us runners. It's a beautiful charity - Erica, 2019 runner
The money that our #WishHeroes raise will grant magical wishes for children with critical illnesses, like Zak.
Just two weeks after Zak began going to playgroup in 2015, he became very poorly. He was pale and wanted to sleep all the time. A scan at hospital revealed a mass on Zaks kidney the size of a small football, which had spread to his bone marrow.
After 14 months of intense treatment, Zaks family was given the all-clear and he started a two year treatment trial to reduce his chances of relapsing. A lot to take for a little boy and his family.
It was then that one of Zaks doctors referred him to Make-A-Wish. When the wish fairies asked what his dearest wish would be, Zak told them all about how he loves to build with Lego and most of all his favourite thing to build is Batman.!
So, Zaks wishgranter, Nicola, sprinkled her magic and arranged a special trip for the whole family to travel from their home in Northern Ireland to visit Legoland Windsor Resort, where some exciting surprises lay in store for him!
Too excited for words!
Zak and his family flew from Belfast to stay at the Legoland hotel. Before the flight, Zak was invited to meet the pilot in the cockpit and even got to wear his cap!
Gareth said: When we got to the hotel, Zak was so excitable he actually couldnt speak. He was trying to talk so fast about everything he was seeing that his mouth couldnt keep up!
The Legoland hotel and park was packed with things to explore for Zak and his family: a mini disco on the first night, lots of rides and plenty of Lego on show! And then, the magic, the best part of the whole trip, Zak met his favourite character - Lego Batman.
"We had no idea how much detail his wish would involve. Everything was taken care of, so that we could just enjoy being a family together." Gareth, Zak's dad
Zak's wish gave him the chance to be a child again, after so many months of his early years were spent in hospital.
He was able to go on an adventure that was entirely his own creation.
When we left Northern Ireland for the wish Zak was under the weather but, when we got back he was a different boy. Its boosted his confidence and hes not afraid of anything! He always talks about his wish to everyone.
Now, Gareth says Zak is more confident around children his own age and he was well enough to start school in the September!
