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Sisters girl's wish comes true
By Jim Cornelius

Josie Halen (center) with her dad Mario, mom Amanda and brother Torin, will enjoy her new playhouse.

Three-year-old Josie Hanel hasn't had an easy time of it for the past couple of years, bravely battling leukemia.

Her world got a little brighter on Friday, October 26, when a construction crew from RH Construction arrived at her Cloverdale home to deliver and set up a fine new playhouse.

The playhouse represented a wish fulfilled by the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Oregon. According to Make-a-Wish spokesperson Shari Poindexter, two volunteers worked with Josie.

"Their mission is to find out the true, heart-felt wish of that child," she said.

In Josie's case, it was pretty clear.

"She literally ran and grabbed a picture of a playhouse" to show the volunteers, Poindexter said.

Josie, who will turn four in January, now has a nice place in her back yard to play with a kitchen set and all the accouterments of home.

"Playing house is what she'll use it for -- playing mommy," said her mom Amanda. "She's always trying to be mommy."

Josie is a "happy-go-lucky" child, according to her parents. Her good spirits have stood her in good stead through a grueling round of chemotherapy since her diagnosis on March 28, 1999.

She's doing pretty well now and the outlook is good.

"We have seven more months of chemo and she'll be watched real close for a year," Amanda said.

After that, there will be five more years of blood draws to monitor her condition.

The Hanels heard about Make-A-Wish through a friend.

"I have a friend who has a six-year-old with leukemia and she said 'you call Make-A-Wish,'" Amanda said.

That launched what turned out to be a months-long campaign to make a wish come true.

According to Poindexter, the foundation relies almost entirely on volunteers. Local volunteers Merrilyn Mastrud, Betsy Clifford and Michelle Orlandos worked hard to get donations for the playhouse.

"RH Construction came to my rescue," said Mastrud. The company donated lumber and services for the project.

Poindexter notes that requests for a wish must come from a parent or guardian, a medical professional or the child herself.

A medical professional must sign off on medical authorization, which is based on the severity of condition.

Poindexter recited the foundation's mission statement: "We grant wishes of children with life-threatening illness to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy."

Wishes take several forms: going to a dream destination such as Disneyland; a gift like Josie's playhouse; meeting a celebrity; or an activity, such as becoming an artist for a day.

"We really try to elaborate that wish or enhance that wish to make it all it can be," Poindexter said.

For more information about Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oregon, call 1-800-934 WISH (9474).

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