Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wish Comes True For Local Child

Sometimes wishes do come true.

This was the case for Shelly Goodwin, a nine-year-old Prescott girl suffering with acute lymphocytic leukemia.

She was diagnosed with leukemia March 20, 1998, a time her mother, Suzanne, and father, Mike, will never forget.

At this point, Shelly is holding her own with the disease and going in for regular treatments. Everything, her mother said, is going according to schedule and there has been no extra hospital time for the third grader.

When the family learned of Shelly's condition, they sat down and discussed how best to handle the situation with Shelly. She agreed it was best to take things one day at a time.

After the diagnosis, Suzanne spoke to Shelly's primary physician, Dr. Suzanne Seccente, to see if they qualified for the Make A Wish Foundation they did.

Then came the process of applying to the foundation for a "wish" and deciding what the wish should be. The choice came down to a trip to Disneyland or a computer system the computer system won out.

This decision, too, was discussed by the family, with all agreeing the computer would be more practical in the long run.

The next step was to keep being approved by the foundation a secret from Shelly, as the foundation personnel likes to surprise the recipients.

Shelly's face lit up as if Santa Claus himself came to visit Saturday, April 17. For her, the visitor who showed was better than old St. Nick as Winnie the Pooh showed up, along with some friends, with the computer and some other games for the family.

Rose Gross, a volunteer with the Make A Wish Foundation, said Shelly's case was unique as it was a "tag team" effort. Normally, she said, one person handles a case from start to finish.

In this case, though, one person got the ball rolling, had it take over by another, with Gross getting to have all the fun of making the delivery.

David and Vickie Egleston brought the computer and games down, setting up the system, including the desk, chair and printer. He loaded the games and programs, while she and "Pooh" played with the children.

Gross said there are four types of wish granted: the occupational wish, a wish to visit someone, the wish to take a trip somewhere and the wish to have something special as in Shelly's case.

She said the foundation tries to set a limit of $2,500 per child, but there are some cases when this amount is exceeded.

Suzanne Goodwin said she was happy to see her daughter get something so special after all she's had to go through. "This is something she can use for a long time."

"Pooh", played by Chrissie Egleston, left for a while, returning with several pizzas. Such parties are also given to those who have wishes granted.

However, the hard part was prying Shelly and her brothers and sisters away from the computer as they were having fun playing computer games.