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Go and do: Help grant sick children's wishes Saturday
| Thursday, Mar 20 2008 5:39 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Mar 20 2008 5:46 PM
Who’d have thought something as horrible as life-threatening childhood illness could bring about so much good?
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“It’s great to step in and make kids’ final wishes reality,” said 66-year-old Don Perry, chairman of the Cruisin’ for a Wish Classic Car & Motorcycle Show, which for the fifth time, on Saturday, will hold its annual fundraiser to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“We’re actually a different kind of medicine,” said Diana Rambo, the Fresno-based executive director of Make-A-Wish of Central California, which she said grants wishes to gravely ill children between 2 1/2 and 18 all along the San Joaquin Valley. “It brings so much hope to these kids.”
A terminally ill child, or one stricken with a life-threatening illness, could wish for something as easy-to-deliver as a shopping spree at the local mall or as fancy as a new computer or trip to Walt Disney World.
One such child is Walker Frayne of northeast Bakersfield. The 11-year-old sixth-grader at Dr. Juliet Thorner Elementary School was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in September 2004, according to his mother, Liana Frayne. The disease is in remission after 3 1/2 years of chemotherapy at UCLA Medical Center, she said.
“His wish is to cruise the Hawaiian Islands,” said Lori Steinman, program services manager for Central California Make-A-Wish. “I always heard that Hawaii was really nice,” Walker said. “I always wanted to go there, really.”
Since 2005, actually, but the Fraynes had to put off the trip because the chemo made Walker very ill and, Steinman said, “We have to make sure that the wish is medically appropriate for the child.”
Finally, it looks like the whole family — which also includes Walker’s father, John, and identical twin, Cole — will share in the fulfillment of the wish this summer.
“A wish is for the child but it’s also for the family,” Steinman said. “Sometimes these families don’t know what a vacation is. They spend their vacation time in the hospital with a sick child.”
“You don’t have any control over what the kid’s wish is,” said Perry, a Bakersfield native and retiree. “You just pick what would generate the money to support it and in the end, when we tally up the money we can say, ‘Hey, Make-A-Wish, we can sponsor one more child.’”
And Cruisin’ for a Wish car show has certainly been tallying up the money, according to Perry:
• $4,800 raised in 2004 went to the foundation itself;
• $10,300 raised in 2005 sponsored four Kern children;
• $18,000 raised in 2006 sponsored five Kern children;
• $20,000 raised in 2007 sponsored six Kern children.
Because of its growth and popularity, the show has had to change venues three times since it began, Perry said. That’s from Jim Burke Ford to Beach Park to the Kern County Fairgrounds. The number of cars exhibited has grown from 67 the first year, he said, to an anticipated more than 350 this year — not counting the motorcycles and lawnmowers.
Perry hopes Saturday’s show at the Kern County Fairgrounds will raise even more money than the 2007 fundraiser and sponsor eight local kids.
“The wishes are increasing in Kern County,” Rambo said last week. “We had four just come in this week. Kern County is becoming even bigger than Fresno in referrals.”
A GENEROUS MOOSE LODGE
Since its beginning, Cruisin’ For A Wish has been organized by the Stockdale Moose Lodge, which Perry called “a community-minded fraternity.”
“We wanted to do something to help the community,” Perry said, and after some research, Make-A-Wish seemed like the ideal charity with which to partner. “Everybody just jumped on the bandwagon and said, ‘Yes, that’s what we want to do.’”
“We are so grateful to the Moose Lodge,” said Rambo, who called the Kern children whose wishes are granted “brave boys and girls.”
Walker’s mom echoed the sentiment. “That was just the most wonderful thing,” she said about the promise of Walker’s wish as he was going through chemotherapy. “That was just like such a rainbow for him.”
Another rainbow in Walker’s life has been his twin, younger by nine minutes.
“When I miss school, he always helps me with my stuff and he’s always been really helpful with everything and he’s just been there,” Walker said.
“Before Walker was diagnosed they looked exactly alike,” the boys’ mother said. “You couldn’t tell them apart. Now Cole is about four inches taller and about 40 pounds heavier. They barely look like brothers. They don’t look like twins at all.”
But “I’m doing a lot better,” a confident Walker said recently. He’s scheduled to have a bone marrow biopsy Friday, a sort of progress check.
KIDS, CAR SHOWS AND GIVING
Sherry Aal is a car-show and show-car enthusiast who exhibited her vehicles with Cruisin’ For A Wish since it began.
This year she plans to exhibit her 1970 Chevy Corvette Stingray, which is victory-red and has a racy white stripe down the middle. Aal said she is vice-president of the Bakersfield Toy Run, which takes place at Christmastime. She also belongs to six other car clubs and attends the Bakersfield Car Club Council meetings.
“I’m into cars and kids — love ‘em both,” said the 51-year-old who runs Aal Child Care, a state-licensed day care facility.
“Bakersfield is a car club town,” she said. “It’s amazing how much these car clubs donate putting on a car show for the kids.”
She said Bakersfield has more than 20 car clubs, and most of them sponsor children’s charities.
“I always give a little extra to the cause,” she said. “Sometimes I end up sending in a registration to the car show and then I don’t go because I have something else to do. So at least they get the money.”
GO AND DO
...And help kids stricken with a life-threatening illness get their big wish.
What: Fifth annual Cruisin’ For A Wish Classic Car & Motorcycle Show, featuring cars, motorcycles, racing lawnmowers, poker run, vendors, crafts, steak dinner, sodas, hot dogs, raffles and more.
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kern County Fairgrounds, 1142 S. P St.
Who: Presented by the Stockdale Moose Lodge #2178. Proceeds benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation for children throughout Kern County.
Admission: Free. Hot dogs, soda and chips are $1 each and a New York steak dinner is $10 to the general public. Other items, such as T-shirts and mugs, will be on sale.
Exhibitor fee: $35 per vehicle — includes free steak dinner.
Parking: $3 at the lot across P Street from the fairgrounds’ main entrance.
Information: 399-8406, 599-2861 or 397-7786 or stockdalecarshow.com.