ESPN grants a wish!

While I was deciding what to blog about this week I happened to come across a story that I couldn't have found at a more perfect time.

As we all know the super bowl is coming up in just a few days so while we anticipate the game between the Packers and Steelers, make bets, and trash talk the other team I thought it might not be such a bad idea for all of us to hear this story.

Anna Schmidt, a 13-year-old from Horicon, Wisconsin, has a love for football, especially the Green Bay Packers. However, her regular football watching Sunday afternoons came to a halt after a trip to the doctor. Anna had been experiencing stomach aches and a cough that she couldn’t seem to get rid of. At first, both her parents and doctors thought it might just be asthma or possibly acid buildup. However, not long after a few tests were taken, Anna’s life took a dramatic turn. She was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, she had a heart that was big in size but small in function. Anna’s heart was quickly failing so her options on treatment were limited. She was first placed on medicine, the medicine began to work wonders but she was only able to take it for so long before it would cause other complications in her body so they needed another plan.

It wasn’t long before doctors realized Anna needed a heart transplant. She was placed on the transplant list but while waiting for a donor her heart was continually failing. After undergoing a 17 hour surgery they inserted an artificial heart in Anna until a donor could be found. The artificial heart was keeping her alive but not by much. She had been experiencing blood clots and strokes from the pump, so doctors were changing out the pump once a week, which is a dangerous procedure. And just when the Schmidts thought things couldn’t get any worse, a CT scan showed a hemorrhage in Anna’s brain. The Schmidts were doing their best to keep their hopes up high but things were not looking good.

A few weeks later things started looking up when the Schmidts received a call from the doctors saying they found Anna a transplant. Within 48 hours of the surgery Anna was feeling like a normal 13-year-old again.

Anna checking out her new locker

What she didn’t see coming though was her wish being granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. While Anna was undergoing all these procedures the Make-A-Wish Foundation asked her if she could wish for anything what would it be? Anna’s one wish was to meet the players on the Green Bay Packers, especially her favorites, Al Harris and Aaron Rodgers. Much to her surprise Al Harris and Aaron Rodgers sent Anna a video asking her and her family to join them at a practice. Anna and her family were picked up by a limo and taken Lambeau Field. When she walked onto the field, Packers fans were lined up cheering to support her. She even had a personalized Packers locker and uniform custom made right next to the qaurterbacks, Aaron Rodgers, locker. Mike McCarthy, the Packers head coach, introduced Anna to each player and let her close the practice with a “break!”

Anna’s day with the Packers was something that she will remember forever, she could not have been happier on that day! I’m assuming this weekend she’ll be cheering them on!

Go Packers.

To see Anna's story check out this link: Anna's Wish Video

Welcoming the new 2011 Make-A-Wish Team

Being on the Make-A-Wish team for the TCU Chi O's is no easy task, we recently just elected our new team so I thought I would introduce you to each new member.

The 2011 Make-A-Wish chair is Miss Hannah Livingston. Hannah is a junior Child Development major from Dallas, Texas. When Hannah's not in school she loves to travel. She recently spent two months in South Africa working with underprivileged kids; while she was there she was also able to enjoy skydiving across Cape Town, cage diving with great whites and touring the country! Hannah's position as the Make-A-Wish chair is a busy job. She oversees all the positions we have on the team and makes sure everything is running smoothly. Hannah does a tremendous amount of work to keep our events up and running.

However, Hannah can’t do it all by herself. Her right hand man, Brooke Young is the Make-A-Wish chair assistant. Brooke is a sophomore Advertising/Public Relations and Psychology double major from Seattle, Washington. In her spare time she loves reading, cooking, photography and scrap booking! Brooke’s position as the Make-A-Wish chair assistant helps with the overflow of responsibilities for the Make-A-Wish chair.

Grace Hughston, our team’s auction leader, is from San Angelo, Texas. Grace is a Marketing major at TCU’s Neeley School of Business. On top of being in the Neeley School of Business, Grace is also in a two-year leadership program that focuses on developing leadership skills. When she isn’t in school she loves to cook meals for herself and for her roommates, as well as painting! Grace’s position as the Make-A-Wish auction leader is to collect and set up all 150-auction items from the members of our sorority. She is also in charge of the entire set up of the auction, which includes a sit down dinner and a band. The Chi Omega auction has been very successful over the past few years. Just last year the auction raised more than $23,000 for Make-A-Wish.

Haley Luter, a sophomore Advertising/Public Relations major with minors in Art and Business from Allen, Texas shares the job of our Make-A-Wish team’s Advertising and Public Relations Chair. Haley is joined by Meg Brown, a junior Advertising/Public Relations major with a minor in Sociology from Boston, Massachusetts. Both Haley and Meg love to be outdoors, watch movies, hang out with friends and cook! Their job on the Ad/PR team consists of promoting all the numerous events we host through out the year. Whether it’s making flyers for Frats-At-Bat or sending out emails for the Race for Wishes, they have it covered!

Madeline Nagel, a freshman nursing major from Austin, Texas is head of our Corporate Sponsor position. Madeline loves to read, run, dance and hang out with her family. Her position as our Corporate Sponsor consists of contacting local businesses in order to raise awareness about the Make-A-Wish Foundation and also ask for donations for Make-A-Wish.

The TCU Chi O’s 2011 Make-A-Wish team is a great group of girls, I think working together they will do a tremendous job and have a huge impact on the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

That is all for now, see you all next week!

Make-A-Wish

For those of you who do not know what the Make-A-Wish Foundation is, I'm going to give you a little background about the foundation. The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a program that raises money to grant wishes to children with life threatening illnesses. The foundation began in 1980 after a few people got together and decided to grant the wish of 7-year-old Chris Greicius. Chris was courageously battling leukemia and did not have long to live, but his one wish was to become a police officer.

Chris Greicius

         The foundation was able to find a United States customs officer who developed a friendship with both Chris and his mother. The officer gave Chris a ride in a police helicopter to their headquarters where he was personally greeted with three police cars and a motorcycle. After Chris’ tour of the headquarters they surprised him with a custom tailored official DPS uniform. Chris’ dream of becoming a police officer came true through just a few people wanting to grant the wish of a 7-year-old. His inspiration sparked the founding of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Today, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has created 203, 278 wishes, which is one wish every 40 minutes.

         
Now that you know a little bit more about what the Make-A-Wish Foundation does I am going to inform you about their alliance with the Chi Omega sorority. In 2002 Chi Omega created an alliance with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Chi Omegas across the United States have raised over $5.5 million through philanthropic events. The Chi O’s host several events throughout the school year to raise money, although events may differ at every university.

 At TCU, home of the horned frogs in Fort Worth, Texas, the Chi O’s host three main events and participate in one throughout the school year to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The Chi O’s first event is during September; they host a silent auction that in the past few years averages an income of around $20,000. During March the Chi O’s form a team to run in the “Race for Wishes.” This is an annual race that occurs in the Dallas – Fort Worth area to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The Chi O’s second event occurs in April when they have a sports night and sell group tickets to a sporting event, last year the Chi O’s sold tickets for a Texas Rangers game and ended up making over $1,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. And lastly, the Chi O’s biggest event of the year is the Frats-At-Bat tournament that happens every year in April. The TCU Chi O’s form together softball teams that consists of all fraternity members. So to make the tournament more fun, the girls coach the boys. It is a two-day tournament that creates fun competition for a good cause. Over the next ten weeks I will be informing you all about the upcoming events that will eventually lead to Frats-At-Bat!

Frats-At-Bat 2010

To learn more about the Make-A-Wish Foundation please go to: http://www.wish.org