Sally's Wish.

Sally seemed like an ordinary kid. By the time she was 11 years old she had accumulated the usual bumps and bruises that most sports minded girls can get. She told me (via e-mail) she played field hockey, softball and volleyball. And she ran. In fact, she loved running best of all.

Her parents were divorced, but on friendly terms and by her own admission, Sally was a happy, energetic child. Full of promise, Full of life. Full of the future.

I met Sally via this running site when she asked for advice and I struck up a friendship with her. I never dreamed she was unwell until recently. One morning not too long ago, I scanned the many unopened and still waiting letters in my electronic mailbox and I saw her familiar e-mail was among them and was waiting for me.

After attending to a few messages, I then turned my attention to what I knew would be a cheerful, bubbly recounting of a soccer game or a running event or a telling of what bump or bruise she had just acquired as she participated in one of her favorite activities. I had a smile on my face as I clicked to open the e-mail.

My smile faded quickly as I read. The e-mail was not, in fact, from Sally, but from her mother.

As I read the entire story the full impact hit me. Hard.

Sally had been confined to a wheel chair most of her life. She had limited mobility and had never walked a step in her life, much less run. Her computer was her only link to the outside world. It was a world where people accepted her as normal. They never stared at her and other kids never made fun of her.

It was, to her, her "wish" world. Whatever she wished, she was.

She had stumbled upon my web site and started asking questions about how she could run faster. I took the time to answer her. She would report back after her "run" and always tell me how fast she had run, how much pizza she had eaten and how much her team mates liked her.

Well, it was all possible, it was all true. In her "wish" world.

Sally's mother explained to me that Sally had dozens of friends that wrote to her . And Sally was so happy to be in a place where she wasn't handicapped at all. She could do what she wanted and run fast as the wind. In her wish world.

Go To Page: 1 2 3