WISH GRANTED
Connecticut teen with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma receives a new boat
NIANTIC – The backwaters of Long Island Sound that Ben Orefice wants so badly to properly explore weren’t far beyond the neighborhood’s shoreline horizon, but he didn’t gaze or daydream as he walked across his front lawn, grinning, eyes fixed on the perfect boat to do it with.
It was his, Orefice soon realized, this 14½-foot Maritime 1480 Sport Skiff featuring an outboard motor and all the size and functionality for, well, you name it: fishing, tubing, heading out into the open water. It was his because it had been his wish, and on Wednesday afternoon Orefice ran his hands along the outside of that boat, still grinning, and looked inside.
“We thought 2020 was going to start out as a good year,” said Charles Orefice, Ben’s father. “And it hasn’t been.”
“Bad mix of things,” Ben interjected. “But now this makes it a little better,” his dad said.
That’s what the Make-A-Wish foundation does. It makes things a little better. It puts the most generous people in touch with those most deserving of generosity and the magic created — from far-fetched dreams realized to simple joys returned — is something to celebrate.
Orefice, 17, was diagnosed in early January with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He underwent five grueling chemotherapy sessions, each lasting
four days, all the while battling the nausea and fatigue and the terrible taste and hair loss and neuropathy and fear.
While he was in the midst of treatment and becoming immune-compromised, COVID-19 entered our lives and changed so much.
We must remember there are still wonderful things going on in the world.
Seeing a boat pulled through town as part of a parade led by the Niantic Fire Department is a reminder. So is seeing that boat left in a driveway and approached by a kid who has had a terrifying winter and spring and suddenly can’t stop talking about what summer will bring. Still grinning the entire time, not a hint of pessimism, Orefice on Wednesday was just another shoreline teenager waiting for the weather to turn so he can get out on the water.
Straight out to Old Black Point and beyond in his new boat.
“It’s been hard. It’s changed my whole life,” said Orefice, a junior at
East Lyme High and a member of the football team. “But overall, now that [treatment] is over, I think it was a great experience. I’m glad I went through this because it makes me think different now. I’ll live forever knowing that if I can get through this I can get through anything.”
Wednesday was World Wish Day, marking the 40th anniversary of MakeA-Wish, which has granted approximately 300,000 wishes since its inception, including approximately 3,300 by Make-A-Wish Connecticut.
The foundation and its local chapters, like any business or organization, have come across some impossible circumstances amid the coronavirus pandemic, though, and about 80 wishes in Connecticut are currently on hold.
Imagine that confusion, that heartache. Not all wishes are about locating and delivering an object. Many wishes, in fact, are experiences. And to tell a sick little boy that his dream of going to WrestleMania has been granted only to have to tell him the trip is off … to tell a sick little girl that she’ll be going to Disney World for her birthday only to have to tell her she won’t … it’s all very cruel, no one’s fault, just more COVID-19 fallout to deal with, this kind being incredibly emotional and sensitive.
Make-A-Wish fundraising has also taken a major hit amid the economic slowdown. Major events have been canceled or postponed or moved to a virtual experience. New wishes are still coming in all the time and eventually the expectation is to disappoint no one, to keep pumping joy into the lives of the young and critically ill.
“Once we’re able to grant these wishes there are going to be so many in the pipeline,” said Pam
Keough, president and
CEO of Make A Wish Connecticut after arriving in Niantic. “We’re going to be backlogged and we pride ourselves in really trying to grant every wish and having it come through in the right timetable. I’m hoping that after people invest and donate to [hunger] and things like that, they’ll come back and realize things like Make-A-Wish can bring some hope to these kids and will be part of the next round they’re thinking about.”
Many wishes can still be granted. Three wishes for pools are being worked toward in Connecticut. There’s a kid out there, somewhere in Connecticut, about to get a puppy. Swing sets can always be delivered, playgrounds built and even boats delivered, as it turns out.
“I’ve had kayaks,”
Orefice said. “I’ve had some smaller boats. I could never get anything this big.”
Orefice was approached by Make-A-Wish just two weeks ago. He knew travel was out, given his health and the state of the world. He wanted to make the Summer of 2020 something to remember for all the right reasons and he wanted that summer to be spent on the water, with the right boat.
Make-A-Wish located it.
The boat was donated by Tasha and Paul Cusson of Atlantic Outboard, a boat dealership in Westbrook.
“It came so quickly,” said Ashley Orefice, Ben’s mother. “They said they had to check into it. They haven’t had too many kids ask for boats. … He deserves it. He’s been a trooper.”
These are the good times. Starting to be, anyway. Orefice, who has a twin brother and an older sister, responded well to chemo, tests show. He’ll undergo more tests May 18, at which point he could be declared in remission, five-plus months after this all began with feelings of fatigue.
Orefice sustained a concussion playing football in November and the family thought there might be lingering effects. They next thought was he might have mononucleosis. Then Orefice showed swollen lymph nodes and soon came a diagnosis, his life changing with the entire world about to.
“He’s a really good kid and he went through a hard time,” Charles Orefice said.
Ben and his dad were about to go for a drive around town Wednesday afternoon when the surreal happened, when the wish came true. A firetruck showed up. Dozens of cars, too. And a boat on a trailer. Here you go, kid.
Ben Orefice stood near the boat.
“Right about now,” he said, “is when I’m starting to get back to being normal.”