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My name is Harriet, and in 2002, at 15-years-old, I was diagnosed with a kind of leukemia that had never been seen before. I was in the hospital for nearly seven months undergoing chemotherapy and was bed-ridden for much of that. Children have a special resilience that I think many of us lose as adults. At that time, I was able to devote my life to being there and getting well in a way that would have been impossible had I been older, with the responsibilities of an adult, a parent.
Though many of my normal teenage routines were impossible to maintain, I did continue to watch, with devoted regularity, my favourite TV show: Gilmore Girls. One of my nurses liked the show too, and would try to schedule her shifts so that we could watch parts of it together. When I was too sick to watch the show - once, I had a nosebleed so bad that I couldn't even look up at the TV or the blood would run down my throat - someone would tape it for me.
When it came time to make my wish, my friends helped me brainstorm my best possible options. The most important thing for me was to do something that I wouldn't be able to do alone, independently of an organization like the Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Canada. I was at a special arts high school, in the performing arts program, and had dreams of being an actress. My first wish was to go to the Oscars but, for many reasons, that wasn't possible.
So, I wished to meet the Gilmore Girls.
When I was well enough (almost a year after my treatment had finished - my hair had started to grow back, the blood had returned to my cheeks, and I had returned to school), Make-A-Wish® booked my flights to California. From there, the whole thing was a dream. Perfect. Unbelievable. A stretch limo picked up my parents and I to take us to the Toronto airport and to the hotel in Los Angeles. I was upgraded to first class. I had my own bedroom in the hotel. For a wish child, these things are important.
The limo came back to take my parents and I to the Warner Brothers' Studio and we spent the whole day there. I was put into a costume - a school blazer with some lipstick - and given a spot to stand. The director made me an extra for a scene - I was sorting through photo slides in the background of a shot and was just so happy! I talked to my favourite actors about normal things: our homes and our lives. One of the characters - Luke - came in on his day off and drove me around the lot in his BMW, giving me the tour of all of Stars Hollow. We talked about baseball, coffee and the future.
The cast and crew invited me back for a second day, and I stayed there, just hanging out, until after dinner. Waiting for me at the hotel was a script of the episode, signed by all of the cast and crew, and a t-shirt made for the TV show, featured in one of the previous episodes. I was over the moon.
When the episode aired, we had a little viewing party at a friend's place and, when the show was over, there was a knock at the door. It was my wish-granter from Make-A-Wish. She was wearing a ball-gown and pearls and was holding a bag. She came into the room and read out the nominees for "Best Extra of the Year" - I won the Oscar. I think I cried.
Everyone at Make-A-Wish went miles beyond my wildest expectations and I was treated like a star. The most important thing, though, was that I felt like a normal person. Beyond that, I felt like the most special person in the world.
Past wish child, Harriet is healthy and happy and lives in Paris, France. She is the editor-in-chief of a literary and arts magazine that she founded in 2008, that creates and brings together a community of artistic people. In addition to this, Harriet is writing a novel, partly based on her experiences with cancer.
About the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Canada
The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada (makeawish.ca) is a dynamic wish-granting organization that brings hope, strength and joy to children across Canada living with life-threatening medical conditions. Along with the national office, seven independent regional chapters grant magical wishes to children in need from coast-to-coast. Make-A-Wish® Canada is an affiliate of Make-A-Wish® International, the largest wish-granting organization in the world, making dreams and wishes come true for more than 270,000 children since 1980.
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elissa.schmidt[.]makeawish.ca 
