A dream come true
BordenCarleton teen's wish to go ziplining in British Columbia set for June
BORDEN-CARLETON,
P.E.I. – After having her dream trip fall through due to the pandemic, 18-year-old Koraleigh Ahearn is finally getting her wish from the Children’s Wish Foundation fulfilled.
On June 1, Ahearn, who has rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, will head out to British Columbia. There, she will spend a week with her brother and parents, ziplining, going on a gondola ride, and walking over the Capilano Suspension Bridge.
“I’m getting really excited,” said Ahearn. “I pretty much have a whole plan for the whole trip so far.”
Ahearn first began experiencing pain when she was 15. She initially ignored it, assuming it would go away. Eventually, she struggled to fully extend her arms and needed help getting her socks on.
After some blood tests, doctors determined that rheumatoid arthritis and lupus were the cause of her symptoms – a diagnosis which, she said, flipped her whole life “pretty much … upside down.”
Shortly after, when Ahearn was 16, her rheumatologist at the IWK Health Centre referred her to the Children’s Wish Foundation.
“It was really cool. What I associate with children’s wishes is, like, kids who have cancer and that kind of stuff,” said Ahearn. “So I was kind of shocked that I had this chance to do it. But I was really excited.”
PANDEMIC INTERRUPTIONS
Ahearn’s initial request was to attend the 2021 Grammy Awards.
“I just thought that it would be such a unique experience,” said Ahearn. “When do you get to be in a room with that many celebrities?”
Ahearn was looking forward to dressing up in a fancy gown, walking the red carpet and watching the live performances.
In spring 2020, though, mere months after she’d put in the request, the COVID19 pandemic shut down both interprovincial and international travel.
That April, Ahearn received
the disappointing news that her dream would not be coming true.
“I mean, I understood why I couldn’t go. As an immunocompromised person, the effects of COVID could be really hard on me, and I understood that it was for my safety and other people’s safety,” said
Ahearn. “But still, it really hit kind of hard.”
Brittney Cousins, communications specialist for MakeA-Wish Atlantic, said that Ahearn is not the only client whose original wish was disrupted by the pandemic due to the travel involved.
How the foundation has
gotten around that, though, depends on what the recipient wants.
“Some kids choose to wait,” said Cousins. “But other kids get that opportunity to reimagine their wish. From puppies to playhouses to anything that a child can come up with.”
As provinces begin lifting restrictions, though, the foundation has once again begun fulfilling wishes involving travel within Canada.
The delay in Ahearn’s wish, as well, meant that she will be 18 when it’s fulfilled; typically, the foundation keeps wish recipients to 17 and under and tries to have the wish granted before the child turns 18. The pandemic, though, has allowed for some flexibility.
“It’s just as wonderful and fantastic as any wish (regardless of age),” she said. “And when a wish comes true for any child that has been approved, it’s an overwhelming, powerful feeling.”
A WISH RE-IMAGINED
After her first wish did not pan out, Ahearn was worried that she would no longer get a wish at all, but a few months later, she was reassured and told to think up a backup plan that didn’t hinge on international travel.
“I wasn’t going to be completely crushed if I wasn’t able to get a wish, but still, to have that hope and being excited for something and then it’s cancelled because of the pandemic,” she said. “But whenever they said that I could still have my wish, I was over the moon.”
She contemplated getting a bedroom makeover or asking for a hot tub, but decided against both, as she would not be staying at her parents’ house much longer.
After some thought, she realized she wanted her wish to be an experience, and eventually settled on a trip to British Columbia.
She has never left the Maritimes but has always been fascinated by the Rocky Mountains and the large trees there.
“I’m also a really avid hiker, so I thought it would be so much fun there,” said Ahearn. “There’s a lot of gorgeous hiking spots there.”
As an older wish kid, Ahearn was able to plan every aspect of her vacation, from where her family would stay, to where they would go and what they would do.
“I’m really excited for the ziplining,” she said. “The only place I’ve ever been ziplining is here in P.E.I. at Rise and Climb (Adventure Course), and that’s not as exciting as that zipline there. There’s the mountains and all that fun stuff.”
For Ahearn, getting a wish fulfilled, and having something to look forward to is a dream come true.
“With my illness, it’s pretty negative a lot of the time,” she said.
“I try not to be negative, but when you’re in pain and you’re dealing with all this stuff, it’s really nice to have something to hope for and to look forward to enjoying.”