Make-A-Wish Foundation sponsors trip for Statesville family
BY MIKE FUHRMAN
For three days in March, Selah Sanchez was on top of the world.
After flying to Los Angeles with her parents and younger siblings, the Statesville teen hopped in a van and visited the Pacific Ocean for the first time. They spent the next day at Universal Studios, enjoying all of the rides and attractions. But the highlight of the adventure was the trip to Sony Studios, where Selah got to collaborate with the creative forces behind “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse.”
“It was amazing! It was crazy!” the 14-year-old artist and aspiring movie director said. “It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
The whirlwind trip was totally funded by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Since its founding in Arizona in 1980, the nonprofit has granted more than 520,000 wishes to children diagnosed with critical and often terminal illnesses.
In early 2021, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Selah became a Make-A-Wish kid. Her frightful journey began with blurry vision, trouble eating, an unexplainable fall and an uncharacteristic desire to take a nap. After Selah’s parents, Isiahs and Toney, noticed her left eye veering, they took her to see an eye doctor. Within a few days, she underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI).
The results came back a few days later.
“We were standing in the middle of Concord Mills when the doctor’s office called,” Toney said. “They said you have to meet with a neurologist.”
The MRI revealed that Selah had a had a tangle of blood vessels in her brain that had created irregular connections between several arteries. This condition, known as a brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM), disrupts the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain and can result in seizures, brain damage or stroke.
The AVM measured 5 cm by 5 cm – considered medium sized – and was located in the right occipital lobe of Saleh’s brain.
Isiahs and Toney, who have been married for 19 years, were rightfully concerned about the well-being of their oldest child.
“The doctors said if it would have ruptured, she would have died,” Toney said.
“You hear these freak stories where people fall down and die – or have a stroke,” Isiahs added.
The Mayo Clinic reports that about half of brain AVMs are not diagnosed until the AVM bursts. According to one study, an estimated 40 percent of patients who experience a burst die from the complications.
The teen didn’t focus on what could have happened. But she was upset that the doctors immediately restricted her activity.
“I didn’t really get scared,” she said. “The only time I got scared was before I went in for surgery.”
In May of 2021, Selah underwent an embolization procedure in which surgeons ran a line through her leg and heart and into her brain and filled the malformation with a form of surgical glue.
Two months later she began five rounds of radiation at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte.
Other than the spot on her head where she lost her hair because of the radiation and the new hair grew back curly, there’s nothing to indicate what the teen endured. She will have regular checkups to ensure there are no additional concerns.
‘Just enjoy life’
The Make-A-Wish Foundation began more than 40 years ago when Frank “Bopsy” Salazar, a 7-year-old with leukemia, wished he could go to Disneyland. The nonprofit covers the cost of granting wishes for children with qualifying diagnoses.
A friend of the Sanchez family, Laura Hall, submitted the application for Selah’s wish in 2022. For Selah, who became interested in drawing during the pandemic, nothing could top a trip to Universal and Sony Studios.
The wish was granted, but the trip was delayed by Covid until March 20-23, 2024.
Although Selah was the official recipient of the trip, the entire Sanchez family was deserving. They had been through the ringer during the Covid pandemic. In addition to Selah’s diagnosis and treatment, her dad and younger brother also endured medical scares.
In July of 2020, after suffering from chronic headaches for more than a decade, Isiahs underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain and spinal cord caused by Arnold-Chiari malformation. The Sanchez’s oldest son, 10-year-old Gideon, has also been diagnosed with the same genetic disorder.
The trip was an epic adventure that will provide memories for years to come.
Aside from the trip to the beach – “The water was cold. My brother got soaked,” Selah said with a laugh – there were other firsts. There was the first bite of a Korean corn dog and the family’s first trip to In & Out Burger. (It’s over-rated, according to Selah.) The Sanchez family met other Make-A-Wish families and took a ride to see the famous Hollywood sign. Their driver actually stopped in the middle of the road so they could get out of the limo and snap a photo, causing a minor traffic jam.
The trip to Sony Studios was definitely the highlight, Selah said. She got a tour and had an opportunity to meet with Joakim de Santos and Kemp Powers, the directors of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” They provided tips and gave her positive feedback on her artwork. “It was awesome,” she said.
“That was the first drawing lesson I’ve ever had.” She also got to do a voice-over for a scene from the movie. To fuel her passion for art, they provided sketch pads and markers.
From the airplane tickets to the Korean corn dogs, Make-A-Wish paid for everything.
“For those four days, they said, ‘We don’t want you to worry about anything. Just enjoy life,’ ” Toney said. “That was cool.”
Selah, who is a bit on the shy side, got excited when she was asked to assess the trip and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“It’s great! It’s amazing! They go above and beyond!”
