Fifteen years ago, while the teenage Andrea Beloff was enduring chemotherapy and radiation treatment to fight off a type of bone cancer, her deep wish was to visit relatives in Brazil. She got her monthlong trip, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts - and it was all she had hoped it would be.
"That trip was kind of the light at the end of the tunnel," said Beloff, 30, a Brookline resident who credits it with a role in her fight against Ewing's sarcoma. "I still think it helped get me through."
Now, Beloff serves at the foundation as a volunteer "wish grantor" - someone who works with families of children with life-threatening illnesses. She is the first "wish child" in the state to go on to grant wishes for other children, said Charlotte Beattie, chief executive officer of the organization, which is in its 20th year.
"If you think about it, our children are now becoming adults," Beattie said. "Andrea is the first, and we're just so delighted to have her in our volunteer ranks."
Last month, Beloff helped arrange for Michael Sweetman, 6, of Norfolk, and his family to fulfill Michael's wish - landing a military helicopter on an aircraft carrier.
Michael was diagnosed with leukemia last year on his first day of kindergarten.
"He was so happy," his father, Brian, said of the Make-A-Wish trip to San Diego. The Navy gave Michael a child-size flight suit and a certificate designating him as an honorary helicopter pilot. Michael and his father boarded an MH-60S
"He enjoyed himself tremendously," Brian Sweetman said, explaining that Michael was too shy to be interviewed. "He really enjoyed flying."
Sweetman said his son continues to wear his flight suit around the house, and made it his Halloween costume.
Michael's treatments weakened him last year, causing the loss of his hair and 10 pounds off his already tiny frame, his father said. The treatments appear to be working, though, and Sweetman said the hopes are that Michael will be cured a year from now.
Beloff said her transition from cancer survivor to volunteer was "totally random." About a year ago, after working out at her gym, she stopped by an ice cream shop and saw that someone was collecting donations for Make-A-Wish.
"It turns out that at the table was Julie Abel," who is now the director of program services of Make-A-Wish "but at the time was my wish grantor," Beloff said. They struck up a conversation, and Beloff expressed an interest in helping the organization.
Abel took her up on the offer, and Beloff said that she is now helping to facilitate her eighth or ninth wish.
In addition to helping the Sweetmans, Beloff has worked with a 12-year-old boy with HIV who wished to go on a shopping spree in New York City, and with a 16-year-old boy with a brain tumor who wished for a laptop computer. Beloff said wish grantors work to add little extras, such as gift baskets, show tickets, or computer software.
"A lot of times the kid will come back and the most memorable thing was the limo ride," Beloff said. "It's those little touches."
Beattie, the Make-a-Wish CEO, said the organization doesn't keep track of how many of its recipients go on to recover. The program's mission, she said, isn't to grant a "last" or "dying" wish, but to provide a positive experience to children with life-threatening conditions.
"What we're working to do is, during a time in their life when they're struggling, come into their lives and give them this fabulous experience to focus on," Beattie said.
Nearly half - 48 percent - of the children served by the foundation ask to go to Disney World to fulfill their wishes, Beattie said. Computers are next in popularity, with the list of other wishes including room makeovers, birthday parties, playhouses, and the chance to meet celebrities. The average wish in Massachusetts costs about $6,000 to fulfill, Beattie said.
Elyse Levin-Russman, a social worker who helps young cancer patients at Massachusetts General Hospital, said Make-A-Wish complements the children's medical treatment, giving them a bright spot in a period dominated by hospital visits. She refers about 30 children a year to the foundation.
"The wish itself is very powerful and often very meaningful," said Levin-Russman, but "the planning and anticipation of it can also be equally as exciting."
Beloff said her work with the foundation is a way to make an immediate difference for children fighting cancer. "I think the impact that any one person can make toward curing cancer is very diluted, whereas my work with Make-A-Wish, it's much more of an immediate and tangible impact. It's life-changing."
Although Beloff experienced that impact firsthand, most of the children she works with never know of her past link to the foundation.
"I don't tell the family or the children that I was a wish child, because it's their wish," Beloff said.
"They've got their own stuff that they're dealing with, and it's really about them."
