Make-A-Wish alumnus and acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivor Daniel Pearce, left, and Make-A-Wish CEO Scott Rosenzweig pose for a photo at Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada Monday, Aug. 28, 2023.
Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Daniel Pearce vividly remembers the day when two ambassadors from the Make-A-Wish Foundation came to visit him at his childhood home in Las Vegas after he had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 6.
Pearce watched Disney movies and cartoons — including his favorite, “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” — during treatment, hoping for a trip to Disney World.
“My first request was actually — my next-door neighbor was really into dirt bikes, and I wanted a dirt bike,” Pearce said with a laugh. “And they were like, ‘Whoa, you got enough things going on right now. I don’t think that’s the right move.’ So, they politely put it that way. And then, of course, the next was to go to Disney World.”
The entire trip, which began with a limousine ride to the airport, made him feel like a “rock star,” said Pearce, who is now 38 and the director of retail operations at Resorts World Las Vegas.
Pearce recently returned to Disney World with his wife and two kids as part of a national campaign for Make-A-Wish, the nonprofit known for granting the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.
Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada CEO Scott Rosenzweig says he likes to say that alumni of the organization like Pearce are living “wishfully ever after.” Pearce, who has also served as an ambassador in Make-A-Wish’s annual “Walk for Wishes” fundraiser, shows patients and their loved ones that there’s hope for the future.
“I had so many families come up to me and say, ‘I hope that’s what my child gets. I hope my child gets to be married and have two kids of their own,’” Rosenzweig said. “And so, Daniel does that. He’s the living embodiment of that.”
Hope is ultimately what Make-A-Wish is all about, Rosenzweig said. Granted wishes are meant to give recipients an escape from their medical journey, and show them that anything is possible.
“We’re the prescription for hope,” Rosenzweig said. “Doctors write for medicine; we write for hope.”
This year, Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada granted an all-time high of 174 wishes, Rosenzweig said. That number — and a fundraising record, as well — are affected by a variety of factors, he said, from the growing population in the region to simply the nature of any given wish.
Many wishes in the pipeline just haven’t been granted yet due to the circumstances of a child’s treatment, the availability of a celebrity or the scheduling of a sporting event, he said.
The goal of Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada is to reach every eligible child in the region, Rosenzweig said, and already the chapter expects to see 200 community referrals in the coming year.
“My new phrase is ‘not on my watch,’ ” he emphasized. “No kid will wait one day longer than they have to for a wish.”
The community plays a major role in making that happen, he added, pointing to Las Vegas sports teams, entertainers and others who have helped make the dreams of Make-A-Wish kids come true.
Less obvious examples, however, may be the many Make-A-Wish volunteers who have their own special connections. Rosenzweig cited one instance in which a child made a wish to become a farmer, and a volunteer who had grown up on a farm was able to grant it.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child, but we know it takes a community to grant a wish,” Rosenzweig said. “ … There are so many people working on every single wish to make sure that every aspect of it is exactly as the child imagined it, or just a little bit better.”
Pearce isn’t an exception, and just one example is through his role at Resorts World, where a Make-A-Wish child was given a VIP experience that included a makeover, shopping spree and stay in a penthouse room.
“That was really fun for me,” he said, “to be able to come full-circle with it and be a part of the wish-giving aspect of it.”
Studies show that kids with granted wishes get healthy faster, require less medication and stick to their treatment, Rosenzweig said.
When kids are in medical treatment, they have few choices. Their doctors, parents and families are making many decisions, but the wish is all theirs.
And, just like Pearce, even after their wish is granted — they always have a home with their Make-A-Wish chapter, Rosenzweig said.
“Hope starts from the welcome call, through the wish and beyond,” he said. “It isn’t just a day of a wish.”
As a kid, Pearce said, he was too young to understand the gravity of his wish being granted. But now, with his kids both around the age he was when he was diagnosed, he has a better understanding of what his family was going through at the time, and the monumental impact of the hundreds — if not thousands — of people who helped make his dream come true.
“It’s a very big part of who I am, and what I want to teach my kids … make sure that you continue to give back,” he said. “Because others have given so much to me that didn’t have to. And Make-A-Wish has done so much for me and my family that I can’t repay them, but I’m trying.”
