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My name is Isaiah New, I'm 24-years-old,
I am a Make-A-Wish recipient.
We, you know, didn't have much growing up, but my mom,
she gave us love, she gave us hope, and when she had me,
I was her first child born with sickle cell anemia.
For my birthday, I think I was 12 or 13-years-old,
my mom took me to see Catwoman.
She had scraped up enough money for us to go see this movie.
A few months later, two volunteers
from the foundation came to our home.
They sat down with us, and they asked me what I would want
as a wish.
You know, being so excited to tell them,
"I want to meet Catwoman!"
At that time,
I didn't even know Catwoman was Halle Berry.
One day, a limousine comes to our home.
We ended up driving go the Santa Monica Pier, and they had
to shut the entire pier down just for me and Halle.
We got on the rides, we, you know,
rode the roller coasters together, we just had a blast!
And every moment I spent with her, I just forgot
about all my problems.
Towards the end of our meeting at the pier, she says,
"You know, when you get home, email me."
I was like, "I don't have a computer."
As soon as we got back home from our wish,
there was a brand new iBook G4 Apple computer,
and a printer on our doorstep.
So, we get into the house, and I fired up the computer,
and I sent my first email to her.
And a few days later, she responded
Having a computer in the home augmented my ability
to learn new information, to, you know, complete schoolwork.
I graduated from university and studied economics
and pre-medicine, and I want to be a doctor one day.
Make-A-Wish isn't a foundation
for just terminally-ill children, they're a foundation
for all children who have critical conditions,
like myself.
A wish is an escape from the circumstances of living
with a chronic condition.
It's something that no, you know, ER visit, can cloud,
it's something that no hospitalization can taint.
I'll always have that - those moments, to remind myself of -
of all the amazing things that life has to offer!