By Robin Tarnowetzki
Journal Staff Reporter
When Braden Nienaber was diagnosed with cancer and had the opportunity to have a wish granted by the Children's Wish Foundation, he wanted only one thing: to spend time with Braden Holtby, a former neighbour and now a goalie with the Washington Capitals. Not only did he get to reunite with Holtby, but Nienaber also got to ride the zamboni, attend a Capitals practice on the bench, and drop the ceremonial puck between the Capitals and the St. Louis Blues, among others.
Holtby and Nienaber - whose parents are from Humboldt - are on the side of a city bus in Saskatoon right now, because the Children's Wish Foundation is celebrating 30 years of wishes in Canada.
"We've got a lot of good stories like Braden," said Gay Oldhaver, director of the Saskatchewan chapter of the foundation. "In fact, I just met a 25-year-old wish child last week. He received his wish when he was 10. To meet him when he's 25 is exhilarating, to meet him and to know that he's still using his camper trailer that he got when he was 10 for his wish, now that's amazing."
Oldhaver said her favourite part of being with the foundation is getting to meet the children and getting to grant their wishes.
"Meeting the families, the parents that are without a doubt some of the most courageous and strongest people that I've ever met," she said. "Having just been through cancer this past year myself, it is inconceivable for me to understand what that's like as a parent to watch your child go through that. I had to watch my parents watch me go through it, and that was very difficult for me as an adult."
The foundation grants wishes for children from three to 17. Usually, the children are referred to the foundation by medical personnel or relatives. Provided they are within that age range and are deemed eligible, the wish can be almost anything.
"I've been asked to send them to the moon, which we can't do, but we really do try to accommodate every child's magical wish," Oldhaver said.
They grant three types of wishes. Item wishes would be a wish for something like a home theatre system, a hot tub, or a horse. A celebrity wish is meeting someone famous, like Braden Holtby. And travel wishes are for the child and his or her family to go somewhere. Oldhaver said one family is deep-sea fishing off the coast of Spain right now and another family goes to Vancouver next week.
"Last year, we granted 70 wishes in Saskatchewan and that's our biggest number ever," she said. "Sort of a sad goal, but on the other side, we want to make sure that everybody has access to applying for a wish here in Saskatchewan, because we don't want to miss anybody."
To raise money for the wishes, the foundation is promoting its 25-year-old lottery. The prize: $1 million and $250,000 in other prizes. The lottery used to offer the choice of a home in Saskatoon or the cash, but no one has ever chosen the home so the option was discarded altogether this year. The final deadline to order tickets is Aug. 28.
Oldhaver said that occasionally they receive less-than-positive emails about wish kids, but she said she can't let it bother her.
"They're like a dark cloud and they pull you down, but you can't think of it that way forever," she said. "It happens for a moment and then you go, 'This is how it is.' We're all going to be there someday. It's just about understanding and believing that the difference we make one moment at a time is all we can do, but it's what we can do."
