Make-A-Wish

Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area’s Walk for Wishes will be on Saturday, August 15, at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos. This family-friendly event is free to participate in and helps raise funds to grant wishes for Bay Area children and families, inbcluding my own. As a social worker, community organizer, volunteer, preschool teacher, and co-director at Building Blocks, I care deeply about our community and the causes that bring us together. There are parts of my family’s story I can recite easily now, almost like muscle memory. But there are other parts that still catch in my throat when I try to say them out loud.

My son, Elwood, was born in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many parents of babies, I remember those early days as a blur of exhaustion and love. We were learning who he was and what he needed while navigating the lockdown and raising his then-three-year-old sister. We had no idea how quickly our world would change.

When Elwood was just 11 months old, we received a diagnosis: bilateral retinoblastoma, a rare and aggressive genetic cancer affecting both eyes. In an instant, everything shifted from milestones and routines to hospitals, specialists, and survival. We did this all while navigating COVID-19 quarantine protocols.

Elwood underwent both intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) and systemic chemotherapy in an effort to save his life and preserve his vision. We held onto hope through every step of his treatment. Despite everything, the cancer eventually required the removal of his right eye on the summer solstice of 2022.

That date has become etched in my memory. Elwood’s middle name is Sol, meaning “sun,” so the longest day of the year had always felt special to our family. As we prepared for surgery, I found myself returning to that thought. Amid the fear and uncertainty, I felt an unexpected clarity: this was exactly who Elwood was meant to be.

It was also the day of his sister’s preschool promotion. That celebration was attended by Elwood’s grandma and auntie while we sat in a hospital waiting for Elwood to awake from surgery. His left eye was saved, but it carries its own challenges. He has limited peripheral vision that continues to deteriorate due to long- term chemotherapy side effects.

There are parts of that time that are hard to describe as a parent: the decisions, the uncertainty, and the way your entire world narrows down to keeping your child safe for one more day, one more treatment, one more scan.

And then there is Elwood himself. He was still a child through all of it, playing in the halls of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and finding ways to be a kid even in the middle of so much. In June 2026, Elwood received his wish through Make-A-Wish: a trip to Hawaii.

We waited years before taking that trip. We intentionally postponed his wish because we wanted Elwood, now five years old, to be old enough to choose it himself. We didn’t want the decision made for him or rushed in any way. We wanted it to truly be his wish.

I didn’t fully understand what that would mean for our family until we were there. Those memories will stay with us forever. This year’s Walk for Wishes brings together families, supporters, volunteers, and community members to raise funds for children who are still in the middle of their own battles. It is a reminder that families all around us quietly carry burdens we cannot always see. I hope you can join us at Vasona on August 15, to walk and celebrate as a I will be there honoring Elwood’s journey.

Not just the hardest parts, but all of it: the resilience, the joy, and the way he continues to move through the world with humor, curiosity, and strength. I will also be there honoring the journey of other Make-A-Wish recipients and their families. Those who continue to write new chapters and those whose stories have ended too soon, but whose love, courage, and legacy remain.

If Elwood’s story resonates with you, I hope you’ll consider joining us for the walk on August 15, or making a donation to Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area. Every wish begins with a community willing to show up for a child and their family.

For more information or to register, visit wish.org/greaterbay/walk-wishes-1.